Setting a Sustainable Trajectory

A Pedagogical Theory for Christian Worldview Formation

Lindemann

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781532635755
• Topic: Bildung
• Subtopic: Sozialwissenschaften unterrichten

Many Christian colleges promote worldview formation as part of their purpose and learning objectives. An institution teaches a worldview with intentionality, enculturates it through community life, reinforces it through human interaction, and passes it on through symbols and stories. Accreditation standards often require colleges to demonstrate how their programs support the development of a biblical worldview. This requirement necessitates a search for teaching and assessment approaches that can best serve this essential goal. In this book, the author reports on qualitative research with Bible colleges and offers a pedagogical theory for supporting students' lifelong development of worldview. This theory shows how college teachers can clarify their goals, set relevant objectives, employ effective teaching strategies, and design helpful assessment methods.

1

Introduction to the Research

Educating for Christian worldview formation is often concerned with teaching the basic tenets of Christianity that differentiate it from other worldviews. Such training tends to be heavily propositional and cognitive, with less attention given to the experiential and practical (Mittwede, 2013). Other approaches emphasize the quantity of theological learning as the determining factor in shaping worldview. It is as though some educators presume a linear model whereby if a critical mass of conceptual change occurs in the student, then the sheer force of theological weight will shift his or her worldview to a biblical or Christian orientation.

Many educational philosophers dismiss the notion of value-free education, acknowledging that all subjects are taught from a particular worldview. For example, Nash (2003) describes value-free education as a myth that supposedly ensures students freedom from coerced exposure to someone else’s values. In fact, Belcher and Parr (2011) claim that everything an institution does teaches values and worldview in both explicit and implicit ways. Together, these define for students what can be known in the world and how it can be known, what ought to be done in a given situation, and what goals are worth pursuing (Koltko-Rivera, 2004).

The factual transmission of such content does play an essential role in forming a person’s worldview. However, what pedagogical factors and strategies do teachers consider when designing and assessing effective worldview learning? For example, the Worldview Explorations curriculum from the Institute of Noetic Sciences offers a developmental model based on pedagogical research in consciousness and transformation. The program, which is for middle school, high school, and college students, uses self-reflective practices and project-based group activities to blend intellectual development with emotional and social intelligence. In addition, Jordan, Bawden, and Bergmann (2008) offer one of the most rigorous studies on worldview pedagogy, but it is set in the agroecosystem context and the challenges of sustainability due to the expanding range of goods and services agriculture offers to society. They address the challenges agricultural professionals will face as new innovations in ecological services bring them into critical civic debates that require a capacity to facilitate both “challenges to, and where appropriate, changes in prevailing worldviews—their own as well as those of others” (2008, p. 92). To prepare for such encounters, the authors emphasize a pedagogy that equips students’ individual capacities to think and act systemically as well as their collective capacities (i.e., social learning) for navigating moral and practical issues brought by the increasing complexities and controversies in this industry.

What is motivating the research attention paid to the pedagogy employed in these types of programs? Schlitz and her colleagues capture it well, saying:

Today globalization, technology, and urbanization increasingly draw together divergent cultures and connect previously isolated regions in ways that have never occurred before. The rate at which information is accumulated and accessed has grown exponentially, challenging us to see the world with new eyes and to adapt our educational systems to meet demands that were inconceivable in the previous era. A growing number of educators and researchers are suggesting that it is no longer possible to separate training of the intellect from the cultivation of emotional and social intelligence. We need to focus not simply on acquiring information, but on understanding ourselves as learners. (2011, para. 5)

Many industries recognize that the way they present themselves and interact with others is equally important as the product or service they provide society. This realization is presented as a type of literacy and often appears in educational discussions about developing “21st-century skills,” which refers to a broad set of knowledge, learning habits, and character traits thought to be vital for success in emerging society. Increasingly, these industries and their educators are turning to pedagogical strategies for raising students’ worldview consciousness and shaping their individual and social capacities for providing moral leadership that builds peaceful, cooperative communities amidst the variety of ethical perspectives and conflict that comes with increasing diversity.

To date, only emergent qualitative data exist on pedagogy employed specifically for worldview formation, especially in Christian contexts. Some of these studies explore pedagogical implications for the shaping and expression of Christian worldview in professional studies programs such as counseling (Grauf-Grounds, Edwards, Macdonald, Mui-Teng Quek, & Schermer Sellers, 2009; Wolf, 2011) and management studies (Daniels, Franz, & Wong, 2000). Some notable doctoral dissertations have recently appeared focusing on pedagogy in the K-12 Christian school setting (Fyock, 2008; Wood, 2008) as well as the Christian college situation (Brickhill, 2010; Wilkie, 2015), while others give attention to testing the reliability of tools for assessing Christian worldview in university students (Morales, 2013). Finally, recent studies have appeared that develop cognitive theoretical frameworks combined with active learning methods for provoking deeper worldview development (Collier & Dowson, 2008; Mittwede, 2013; Ter Avest, Bertram-Troost, & Miedema, 2012)

Two main contributions to the literature influence this project. First, I use the monograph by Kanitz (2005) as a point of departure because she first called for improvements to Christian worldview pedagogy. Like many teachers, she presents the context of Christian higher education as a powerful opportunity to develop a greater vibrancy and holistic worldview in students. Yet many educators are uncertain about teaching and assessment methods they can use for this elusive objective. Kanitz also highlights important pedagogical factors that make this a challenge, such as the multiplicity of Christian worldviews to consider, the influence of denominational and institutional traditions, the ambiguity of assessment, the tendency toward pluralism influenced by postmodern forms of thinking, and the hermeneutical approaches students take to reading and interpreting the Bible.

Second, Ward (2012) provides a helpful perspective on curriculum planning that sees no bifurcation between what should be taught and why. To emphasize his point, he deliberately uses awkward grammar by asking “What should be taught why?” (i.e., no “and” between “taught” and “why”). In doing so, he underscores that teachers should always plan the subject being taught in the context of why it should be taught. Similarly, this study underscores that teachers must also plan the subject being taught in the context of how it should be taught (i.e., the pedagogy). This study assumes that teachers can shape and strengthen a Christian worldview within several disciplines. Therefore, in a style like Ward, this research seeks to answer the question, “What should be taught how?”

Statement of the Problem

Because no theory exists to explain how an expert teacher shapes the Christian worldview of college students, I carried out this qualitative research using personal interviews with six faculty members from Bible colleges accredited with the Association for Biblical Higher Education. The purpose was to discover the notable pedagogical factors, instructional strategies, and assessment approaches they use in their teaching ministry. In keeping with the objective of grounded theory, I examined these aspects so a theory of effective worldview pedagogy could emerge from the data. This study adds to the literature on Christian worldview by offering a theoretical framework for instructional design that is intended to shape the Christian worldview of college students.

The literature thus far on this subject tends to emphasize phenomenological perspectives (Belcher & Parr, 2011; Mittwede, 2013; Setran, Wilhoit, Ratcliff, Haase, & Rozema, 2010) while other disciplines have explored it through a grounded theory approach (Daniels et al., 2000; Jordan et al., 2008). The concerns and observations raised by Kanitz (2005) have been cited in four studies in the past two years (D. M. Carpenter, 2015; Chan & Wong, 2014; Morales, 2013; Wilkie, 2015). This study adds to the literature by situating its context in undergraduate Bible college education.

Research Questions

For this qualitative study, I explored these research questions that align with the selected problem and intent of the study:

1. What instructional designs and pedagogical methods are especially effective for raising worldview awareness and shaping Christian worldview development?

2. How does the worldview of the teacher and his or her relationships with students influence pedagogical effectiveness?

3. How are teachers assessing college students for worldview awareness and development?

Key Terms

Assessment: Involves the gathering and analysis of empirical data on student learning for refining academic programs and improving student learning (Allen, 2003).

Association for Biblical Higher Education (ABHE): A North American accrediting agency comprised of approximately 200 postsecondary institutions throughout North America that specialize in biblical and theological studies as well as professional ministry training.

Christian worldview: A worldview shaped by theological and biblical precepts understood within a particular Christian tradition and cultural setting.

Instructional design: The development of learning experiences and environments that incorporate known and verified learning strategies into instructional experiences which make holistic learning more efficient, effective, and appealing (Merrill, Drake, Lacy, & Pratt, 1996).

Pedagogy: Depending on its use or context, pedagogy refers to the craft, science, practice, or profession of teaching, especially concerning principles and methods of teaching. Expressions include formal classroom/curricular instruction, co-curricular activities, accompanying, and caring for students.

Strategies and factors: A thoughtful and responsive plan or method of instruction that incorporates known circumstances, facts, or influences contributing to a condition or outcome.

Worldview: For the purposes of this study, I will use this concise yet broad definition, which allows the interview participants to shape its meaning more as they see it: A worldview is comprised of the beliefs, values, assumptions, and volitions that provide the rationale for how people understand and order their lives.

Worldview ped...