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I have another scenario to throw out for consideration seeing as I was confronted

with it just last week.  I teach a science enrichment neuroscience class for 7-13

year olds.  We weren't talking about evolution but an 8 year old asked if brains

turn into fossils which got us off track talking about dinosaurs for a while. 

Then the same child asked me why god created dinosaurs before humans.  Not why

did dinosaurs exist before humans but specifically why did GOD create dinosaurs

first.  I was completely taken off guard and seriously did not know how to

respond.  I bumbled through a response saying that it is hard for scientists to

study dinosaurs since we can't go back in time and all we have is their fossils

but that there is some evidence that dinosaurs were better able to survive in the

environment that the world had in the past.  The child raised his hand again

eager to ask more questions but I said we needed to get back to talking about

neuroscience instead of dinosaurs and went back to my planned lesson.  The child

was clearly disappointed in not being able to ask more questions especially since

I said during our first class that they could ask me science questions about

anything.  



Anyone else been in a similar situation- or have pointers on how to preceed.  If

the class was for adults or even high school students I probably would have

engaged in a full evolution debate if it had come to that and I'm a bit

disappointed that the first thing that ran though my head was will this child's

parents be upset if I start talking about evolution.  If a 4 year old asked me

how santa claus makes it around the world to deliver all the presents in one

night I wouldn't just tell the child santa doesn't exist even though that is the

scientific truth.  Is there an age that it becomes permisable to challenge a

child to question the scientific validity of the religious beliefs they are

taught by their family?



--Kristy Sundberg



Neuroscience instructor

Elementary Institute of Science 

www.eisca.org



PhD Student

U of California, San Diego


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