Wednesday, February 8, 2012

RNA Celebrates Darwin's Birthday

We began the festivities by enjoying cupcakes before researching the life of Charles Darwin. Using the web site http://www.aboutdarwin.com each student selected an aspect of Darwin's life and shared it with the others. It was a wonderful way to understand and learn how such an important scientist lived. One student found and shared Darwin's daily schedule; another shared Darwin's interests. Another student told the group about childhood stories that Darwin wrote in his autobiography.

This sharing led to lively discussions on how evolution is viewed throughout the country and the world. Our students are very diverse-some come from different countries, such as India and Germany (of African descent.) Others have lived here all their life, but clearly have the cultural influence from their family's homeland of Mexico, China and Vietnam. We discussed everything from the impact of religion on science, all the way to religious freedom and culture around the world.

It was an truly inspirational meeting that I know Darwin himself would have enjoyed!