Site BlogDear Science Curriculum Publisher:
My name is Douglas Hayworth, and I am contacting you on behalf of the American Scientific Affiliation (ASA) to request your participation in a website project to review science textbooks and curricula for the homeschooling community. I understand that your company produces science curriculum materials for use in Christian and home schools. Would you be willing to provide a complete or partial set of your materials for review?
About the ASA
The American Scientific Affiliation (ASA) is a fellowship of men and women of science and disciplines that can relate to science who share a common fidelity to the Word of God and a commitment to integrity in the practice of science. ASA was founded in 1941 and has grown significantly since that time. The stated purpose of the ASA is “to investigate any area relating Christian faith and science” and “to make known the results of such investigations for comment and criticism by the Christian community and by the scientific community.”
For more information about our mission and statement of beliefs, please visit our website:
The Homeschool Science Resources Project
Undoubtedly, homeschoolers represent a significant part of the Christian community as well as a source of future Christian leaders in scientific fields. Because our organization is both cross-denominational and composed of professional scientists and science educators, we believe that we are uniquely qualified and positioned to inform parents about the scientific content and Christian perspective presented in homeschooling curricula.
We recognize and respect that there exists a diversity of opinions in the church and homeschooling community with regard to views about the relationship of science to the scriptural interpretation and Christian belief. While we do intend to critically evaluate the scientific quality and theological coherence of published curricula, our primary goal is to inform parents about existing materials to help them identify options appropriate to their situations.
I am a homeschooling parent myself, as are other professional scientists in our organization, and I know that I would have benefited from such a resource when I needed to select a curriculum for my children’s particular needs. As today’s leaders in professional science, and as an application of our mission, we are committed to establishing a Homeschool Science Resources Website to serve the community in this manner.
We recently launched the website (summer of 2010). Currently, we are refining the architecture and format for the website, including the template for textbook reviews and customer comments, etc. We are just beginning to review and add content.
Show us what you’ve got!
Please contact me if you are able to provide your science curriculum for review. We would appreciate having complete sets of materials, including textbooks, workbooks, CDs, DVDs and teacher guides. I invite you to provide a high-level summary of your material, including your underlying philosophy of learning and Christian perspective (e.g., what church tradition are you?) that shaped your presentation.
I will be serving as the primary editor/reviewer for overall curriculum sets, but I will be sending textbooks on particular subjects to other ASA scientists who are qualified in those fields.
Thank you very much for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Douglas Hayworth, PhD
douglas@asa3.org