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Specific Lab Questions
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7 Q. How do you cover evolution and creation within the lab? Are the labs Christian based?
A. First, I encourage students to have respect for other's believes, especially not to mock or degrade these believes, this is especially
true for evolution. Second, the subject of evolution does not come up that often in a lab class.
Yes, the class is Christian based, however since this is a science lab class and not a theology class, our emphasis is on the lab work
which is often mechanical and doesn't require a certain belief. I am careful, even though most of the students come from Christian
families and may be Christian themselves, I do have students of other faiths. Again, the first point I made is to have respect and to
realize the world is full of people with different believes. Evolution is a theory and both evolution and creation are founded on faith.
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8 Q. Do you discuss topics that are questionable, especially in mixed company, like human reproduction?
A. No. I respect and leave this subject for the parents to discuss at home. However, we do have a lab on development, concentrating
on the stages of early growth.
Parents should feel free to talk to me about any other questionable topics.
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9 Q. My student is not too keen on doing dissections for Biology. Do you require them to dissect?
A. First of all, even the most squeamish of students seem to surprise themselves and find that it's not that bad. Second, the students
can work in small groups, where usually there is one student doing the major dissections and the others are reading the directions out
loud and/or filling in their lab sheets. Third, I don't want a student to have a traumatic experience, so I do not make the student dissect.
But they do need to fill in the lab sheet for that particular lab, which often has labeling and coloring of the anatomy parts.
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10 Q. Are grades given for the lab class?
A. Not automatically. Information will be kept on each student's work (available to the parent and student anytime) A grade can be
given providing the parent and instructor sit down together to discuss this. A letter of lab completion can be given at the end of the year,
by request only. The lab class is only a portion of the whole science work the student is doing. It is the responsibility of the parent to
provide any grade, including the lab, to their advisor or school.
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11 Q. How much homework is there outside of class?
A. The main emphasis with the lab classes, is getting the experience in a lab and following directions, answering questions and any
other assignment, directly related to the lab. Most of the time, this can all be done within the lab class, depending on how focused the
student is. There are other assignments given that will require homework outside of class, such as studying for quizzes, projects, etc. I
encourage the students to do these, however, since each student may be on a different academic program, these can be optional.
Please talk to me about this.
Please Note: There are a couple quizzes that are mandatory as they directly relate to safety and proper use of equipment in the lab.
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