Christianity Commons^™

Tribute To Gene Chase, Calvin Jongsma

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Gene’s academic work was always one of service to God, his students, and his colleagues, and his intellectual passion was to promote the development of Christian perspectives on various aspects of the field. His contributions to the ACMS have been much appreciated and, God willing, may still bear fruit into the future.

Incorporating Perspectival Elements In A Discrete Mathematics Course, Calvin Jongsma

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Discrete mathematics is a vast field that can be explored along many different paths. Opening with a unit on logic and proof and then taking up some additional core topics (induction, set theory, combinatorics, relations, Boolean algebra, graph theory) allows one to bring in a wealth of relevant material on history, philosophy, axiomatics, and abstraction in very natural ways. This talk looks at how my 2019 textbook on discrete mathematics, focused in this way, came to be, and it highlights the various perspectival elements the book includes.

All I Want For Christmas..., Channon Visscher

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"JWST [the James Webb Space Telescope] will let us see clearer and further into the ancient and beautiful story of creation."

Posting about new developments in spacecraft from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/all-i-want-for-christmas/

Kinds Of Science And Exploring The Past, Channon Visscher

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"Working alongside experimental and observational work, historical science helps us continue to learn the unfolding story of how a beautiful universe, created by a loving God, came to be as we see it today."

Posting about scientific methods from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/kinds-of-science-and-exploring-the-past/

Coral Reefs, Climate Change, And Ecological Lament, Chloe Hansum

Student Work

"What can I do to enhance creation’s song? How can I better care for all creatures great and small?"

Posting about a Christian response to ecological degradation from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/coral-reefs-climate-change-and-ecological-lament/

Lessons From The Ozone Hole, Carl P. Fictorie

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"Good science works with evidence from creation, follows logically from that evidence, and avoids bias on the part of the scientist."

Posting about current environmental challenges from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/lessons-from-the-ozone-hole/

Drinking Water, Nitrates, And The Great Commandment, Robert Dehaan

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"As a society, we will need to develop and implement policies that reward land managers for the environmental services they provide, in addition to the crops they produce."

Posting about loving our neighbors by stewarding the creation from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/drinking-water-nitrates-and-the-great-commandment/

Data And Metrics: Do We Need Them? What Can They Tell Us? What Can't They?, Nathan L. Tintle

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"In our increasingly data-centric world, how do we think about data? How should we think about data?"

Posting about ­­­­­­­­using data to make informed decisions from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/data-and-metrics-do-we-need-them-what-can-they-tell-us-what-cant-they/

Big Oil And Climate Change Denial, David Schelhaas

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"One of the Alliance’s most basic commitments is to free market economic development fueled by coal and oil that will, as they see it, lift the poor out of poverty."

Posting about the philosophy of the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/big-oil-and-climate-change-denial/

Not Masters But Stewards Of The Earth, David Schelhaas

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"We are not servants of the earth but of the creator and Master of the earth, God."

Posting about the beliefs of the ­­­­­­­­Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/not-masters-but-stewards-of-the-earth/

Seared And Bleared, Smudged And Smelly, David Schelhaas

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"Most evangelicals oppose the very idea of climate change and are trying to inoculate their children so that they do not catch the 'climate concern' disease."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­why some Christians are climate change deniers from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/seared-and-bleared-smudged-and-smelly/

Children Of God Living In A Groaning Creation, David Schelhaas

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Virtually every climate researcher in the world agrees that the earth is warming and that human action, especially through the burning of fossil fuels, is the primary cause of this warming."

Posting about a Christian response to climate change from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/children-of-god-living-in-a-groaning-creation/

Against Common Sense, Channon Visscher

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"Scientific inquiry... allows for the exploration of phenomena that would otherwise remain beyond human intuition."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­beauty and truth in creation from In All Things - an online journal for critical reflection on faith, culture, art, and every ordinary-yet-graced square inch of God’s creation.

https://inallthings.org/against-common-sense/

Lies, Statistics, Mathematics And The Truth, Nathan L. Tintle

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"Recognizing a key distinction between mathematics and statistics is helpful in understanding how we know if a statement is true."

Posting about deductive and inductive reasoning­­­­­­­­ from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/lies-statistics-mathematics-and-the-truth/

Mathematical Beauty, Mike Janssen

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"With all the brokenness in the world, is the study of the mathematical aspects of Creation worthwhile?"

Posting about ­­­­­­­­the beauty of mathematics from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/mathematical-beauty/

Best Sandbox, Tom Clark

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"Mathematics ought to be for everyone, not just for mathematicians, scientists, and engineers. Mathematics is not only about application; it is part of the created world."

Posting about ­­­­­­­­learning about math through creative play from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/the-best-sandbox/

Faith Connections In The Math Classroom, Valorie L. Zonnefeld, Ryan G. Zonnefeld

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Looking for ways to make faith connections in your math classroom? The Zonnefelds present a framework, developed in collaboration with local teachers, that synthesizes faith connections, the TfT framework, and Common Core standards.

Physics 101: Observing Physical Creation, Kayt E. Frisch

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"Physics is fundamentally about repeatedly observing the Creation, building models that describe our observations, and then making predictions about what we will observe in the future."

Posting about the study of physics from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/physics-101-observing-physical-creation/

Lunar Stories: The Violence Of Creation, Channon Visscher

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"Tales of the moon’s creation abound in myth, legend, history and science. Given its conspicuous brightness and nearness, we should not be surprised that the moon has captured the imagination since the dawn of human consciousness."

Posting about how the moon was made ­­­­­­­­from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/lunar-stories-the-violence-of-creation/

Systematic Errors In Intro Lab Video Analysis, John Zwart, Kayt E. Frisch, Tim Martin

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In video analysis lab experiments, students frequently find large discrepancies between results based on self-filmed videos and expected values (e.g. for g determined by a fit to projectile motion data). These differences are frequently far larger than the uncertainty calculated from their fit. Using an inexpensive point-and-shoot camera with a 4x optical zoom to record video, we investigated two possible causes of this error: the effect of placing the reference meter stick at a different object-to-camera distance and the effect of the motion of interest being in a plane not perpendicular to the camera lens. When we observed these phenomena …

Critical Thinking And High-Level Discourse In A 1:1 Environment, Ryan G. Zonnefeld, Valorie L. Zonnefeld

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Learn about our experiences co-teaching a K–8 methods course using 1:1 tablets in a high-tech lab. This innovative course included a move away from a textbook to a dynamic research-based curriculum supported by NCTM resources and CCSSM as well as integral utilization of apps, web 2.0 tools, and professional learning networks.

Rapture Of The Geeks, Derek Schuurman

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"If we are more than machines, what is it that defines our humanity? Is it our intelligence, creativity, or emotion?"

Posting about ­­­­­­­­the distinction between humans and artificial creatures from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/the-rapture-of-the-geeks/

Why Should Ecology Matter To A Christian?, Derek Buteyn

Staff Work

"The goodness of creation is more than a pleasing aesthetic. It doesn't just provide value to us because we enjoy it. It is inherently valuable; in every rock, tree, and living creature, truth is spoken of the Creator."

Posting about living responsibly within creation from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/why-should-ecology-matter-to-a-christian/

Technology Isn’T Just For Smart People, Kari Sandouka

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"Technology isn’t only for those who like studying computers and interacting with the technology that makes them run. Rather, we all use technology, no matter what our given job or profession is. Here are four ways to decipher how best to use technology."

Posting about technology and if it brings us together or pushes us apart from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/technology-isnt-just-for-smart-people

Practical Applications Of An Integrally Christian Approach To Teaching Mathematics, Valorie L. Zonnefeld

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Descriptions of various frameworks and approaches to integrating Christian faith in the mathematics classroom are explored, as well as examples and techniques. In particular, a subject-centered approach is advocated in contrast to the traditional teacher-centered approach or, more recently, the student-centered approach.

Subject-Centered Approach To Integrate Faith And Learning, Valorie L. Zonnefeld

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No abstract provided.

Understanding Everyday Use Of The Computer: How Philosophy Can Be Practical, Nick Breems

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The issues which must be considered when attempting to understand the totality of behavior when a human uses a computer are both multifarious and diverse. We thus have difficulties in gaining insight into the meaning that use of the computer creates in our lives, particularly in everyday use. Such understanding is important because insight based on holistic understanding is our best hope for exploiting the God-created potentials for human flourishing that is part of the promise of computing technology. As computer and internet technologies continue to embed themselves in the fabric of our everyday living, the number and complexity of …

Handiwork Of Our Creator, Carl P. Fictorie

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"Chemistry certainly is a science that seeks to understand how creation works, working at the microscopic level of atoms, molecules, and ions; the basic building blocks of matter."

Posting about understanding the nature of creation from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/handiwork-of-our-creator/

Love, Creation, Virtue As Models For Environmental Education, Jeff Ploegstra

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A look at how love, creation, and virtue should shape our conversations about the environment and environmental education.

Galileo's Muse: Renaissance Mathematics And The Arts (Book Review), Calvin Jongsma

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Reviewed Title: Galileo's Muse: Renaissance Mathematics and the Arts by Mark A. Peterson. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011, 336 pages. ISBN 9780674059726.