‘Science is purely about the truth so I don’t think you could compare it to non-truth versus the truth.’ Students’ perceptions of religion and science, and the relationship(s) between them: religious education and the need for epistemic literacy.

ABSTRACT

There already exists a large knowledge base about teaching and learning related to the origins, diversity and history of life on Earth. We know less about teaching and learning related to wider issues pertinent to both religion and science. In our research with 40 students in six secondary schools in England, we looked at wider issues of student perceptions of religion and science. Our study involved an intervention of six lessons in Science and six in Religious Education (RE). Issues of philosophy, including ethics, were raised in Science lessons. The RE lessons dealt with a variety of contexts that highlighted the question of the relationship(s) between religion and science. In both pre- and post-intervention interviews, we found many instances where students used language that conveyed a misconception of the epistemic distinctions between religion and science. Students referred to ‘truth’, ‘theory’ and ‘facts’ interchangeably when discussing religious and scientific knowledge. We argue that RE needs to attend to epistemic literacy if we are to both avoid epistemological misconceptions and enable students to develop insights into the specific knowledge forms manifested in religion(s).

KEYWORDS:

• Religion and science
• epistemic literacy
• religious education
• knowledge

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. Information about the wider project is available at: https://www.issr.org.uk/projects/the-new-biology/.

2. The lesson plans and resources are available at: https://www.issr.org.uk/projects/the-new-biology/.

3. Usually via Skype and occasionally via FaceTime or ‘phone.

4. Had we written these lesson plans more recently, we would have suggested Black Mirror: Bandersnatch for older pupils.

5. Although they were present in both, three of the 40 students only contributed in either the pre- or post-group interview, therefore we are not able to ascertain whether their views changed. For this reason we only report on the views of 37 students in this regard.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Templeton World Charity Foundation [TWCF 0129].

Notes on contributors

Jo Pearce

Jo Pearce is a Principal Teaching Fellow at UCL Institute of Education. She directs the Masters in Education. Her main research interests are in the areas of religious education, spiritual education, Steiner Education, and higher education pedagogy.

Alexis Stones

Alexis Stones is a Senior Teaching Fellow at UCL Institute of Education. She is a tutor and lecturer on the Secondary Religious Education PGCE and the Secondary Teacher Education Programme in partnership with the Institute of Ismaili Studies. She also teaches at the National Gallery, London.

Michael J. Reiss

Michael J. Reiss is Professor of Science Education at UCL Institute of Education, Visiting Professor at the Universities of Kiel, York and the Royal Veterinary College, a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and a Priest in the Church of England. He is President of the International Society for Science & Religion and of the International Association for Science and Religion in Schools.

Tamjid Mujtaba

Tamjid Mujtaba is a Senior Research Officer at UCL Institute of Education. She has worked on a range of research projects which cross psychology and education. Presently she is a co-directing a five year research evaluation which aims to increase the number of students continuing with chemistry post-16.