Those who do not believe in God have a secular or world view of life. Those who are believers should have a Biblical worldview or philosophy regarding every facet of daily life. For educators who teach math at any level and age group, how can math be taught from God's Word, from His perspective?
In Part One, I want to focus on 4 cornerstones in worldview and 3 concepts for integration.
First cornerstone in a Biblical worldview towards mathematics is human origin has a starting point but God as Creator and Designer does not. He is infinite and He offers eternal life or eternal damnation. The concept of zero or nothingness suggests there is a Creator who can create things or people by adding us in or taking us away at any given point.
Second cornerstone in a Biblical worldview towards mathematics is human purpose or meaning of life. If He is eternal and offers eternity, there must be a purpose for why He added us into His World, His Creation. All around us we can see His power like effects of hurricane or flood. This past week in the midst of celebrating the 4th of July, there were spotty areas of swift and rapid downpours and flooding near our church. A former attendee who lives about 4 miles north of the church has a bridge connecting her home to the rural road due to a deep creek. The bridge got pulled away. Her family had to be rescued by airboat in order to get them to a safer place. About 4 miles south of the church a Baptist campground has reported getting 6 inches of rain in less than 1 hour. The bridge that campers access to get to the zipline got ripped away and other destruction was scattered around their property. God reminds us of His power over Creation when events happen around us. We aren't in control--He is. Mankind is given stewardship of God's World (Genesis 1). Man is told to rule over earth, subdue it, and to fill it. Stewardship in math includes using our time wisely, understanding our Creator is unlimited, following the rules of truth versus falsehoods, right versus wrong, and there is good versus evil. Math concepts like infinity, power, stewardship, adding/filling, etc. help to clarify our meaning.
Third cornerstone in a Biblical worldview towards mathematics is morality. Breaking or not following mathematic laws/rules leads to bad outcomes with incorrect answers that aren't helpful which lead to frustration, anger, confusion, and/or disappointment. The same happens when God's moral laws are broken. Jesus got angry with money lenders in the temple because of their dishonest money practices (Matthew 21: 12-13). The values of honesty and fairness were not being used.
The fourth cornerstone pivots back to the first one dealing with infinity, which is worldview of man's destiny. Man's destiny can be either eternal life if a person accepts Jesus Christ as Savior or eternal damnation in hell if a person rejects Jesus as Savior. Another concept tied into the cornerstone of destiny is reaping what we sow (x + x = ?). My favorite reminder for decision-making and problem-solving is POCS: identify the problem, identify all possible options, consider all possible consequences, and then select a solution. Sometimes how we decide to fix a situation results in failure. Then we are reaping sadness, sorrow, anger or frustration. If we make good choices then we reap happiness and joy. Mark 10: 28-31 is a reference example. Another concept tied to the future is the possibility of a reward of 100 times more to those who sacrifice for God's Glory promised by Jesus. What will be part of our destiny? How will math concepts affect our destiny?
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Integrating Biblical concepts in mathematics class starts with recognizing mathematical structure in the creative works of God. Genesis 1:5 speaks of evening and morning defined the 1st day. Genesis 1:8 states the Heaven and firmament were separated to mark the 2nd day of creation. Genesis 1:13 designates the 3rd day with water and land/grasses being divided. Genesis 1:19 reveals that God gave the sun, greater light, to rule the day, and the moon or a lesser light plus stars to rule the night for day 4. Creation advances on day 5 with animals, birds, and creeping things being made in Genesis 1:23. Man and his stewardship mandates to multiply or refill are day 6 of creation as that sections ends with Genesis 1:31. The story of creations extends into chapter 2 stating that God rested on day 7. Think of Him leaning back, relaxing, and looking over everything He had made in the previous days.
More mathematical structure in creation is seen in Psalm 147:4 where David declares God tells the number of stars and can even call them by their names! Isaiah 40:26 rephrases that by stating He who created brings out the host by numbers and calls them by their names. Jeremiah pronounced in chapter 31 verse 37 that the LORD said heaven above can be measured. Wow! Amazing!
A second mathematical concept to Biblically integrate is studies of mathematics reveal intelligent design by a Master Designer/Creator. The key Bible reference for this is Psalm 19:1. The heavens show God's Glory and the firmament reveals His handywork...painstakingly precise details. Values of accuracy, precision, orderliness, and punctuality are vitally important for math rules being followed but are also vitally important in a Christian's life reflecting his/her Creator.
A third mathematical concept to Biblically integrate is being able to see and describe the world in mathematics terms. Job 32:8-9 refers to man having a spirit and is able to get understanding from the Almighty. In the New Testament, I Corinthians 2:14-16 this section mentions that it is not natural for man to be aware of the Spirit (have understanding); however a person can have the mind of Christ, receive the Spirit and thus have understanding to see and describe God's Creation.
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Since this blog is devoted to early childhood education, pre-math or early math experiences for very young learners from a Biblical perspective would be noticing the awesome details in nature, those patterns and variety that have been included by the Master Artist, the Master Mathematician! Learning to count, number sense, number symbols using acorns, leaves, berries, and others of nature's gifts are important using realism. Flashcards aren't enough and do not give the opportunities for children to pick up and hold items. Stewardship can be started with counting and caring for class plants and animals. Stress the importance of each child being part of the group. Find ways to tell each child how they add/improve the group by being there. Find ways for them to learn how to describe their world with color names, shapes, lines, textures, and recognizing numbers and patterns. Give them a terrific foundation for mathematical understanding in learning how to see and describe God's creation!
