SRSP 11-16 Topic 4 U1b – A religious account of the beginning
This unit contains an article on the concept of creation, a review of interpretations of the Genesis story, and ideas for exploring creation stories in Hinduism, Judaism and other cultures. There is a range of web, paper, game and visual activities to stimulate interest and develop skills.
In this unit ‘creation’ will be used in three senses primarily referring to the act of ‘bringing-into-being-by-God’ of everything, irrespective of any particular process, and then in its borrowed or derived senses as:
- Meaning the processes evolutionary or otherwise by which the natural world came into being (theories of origins)
- denoting the ‘natural world’ in its immensity of space, time, galaxies, the earth, animal kingdom, human beings, plants, down to the micro world of molecular, atomic and sub-atomic structures.
This unit consists of 2 lessons and is suitable for students aged from 11 to 16 years
Key Questions
- What can religions tell us about how the universe began?
- Can we trust what religions tell us about the beginning of the universe?
- Are all religions in conflict with science about how the universe started?
Some of the materials can be viewed on screen and some can be downloaded for editing or printing. To view the pdf files you need Adobe Acrobat Reader. See the about section for more details.
Unit Resources
Teacher’s notes: Young earth creationism (Word)
Lesson 1
Lesson Plan: God’s creation I? (Word)
Resource Sheet 1: An account from Genesis 1 & 2 (Word)
Resource sheet 2: A Hindu account of creation (Word)
Resource sheet 3: A Muslim account of creation (Word)
Student Worksheet 1: Creation stories 1 (Word)
Student Worksheet 2: Creation Stories 2 (Word)
Powerpoint: Creation – Where did all this come from? (PPT)
Lesson 2
Lesson Plan: God’s creation II? (Word)