Using the DD Materials to...
Impartially Address Religion
If you are teaching about religion, then you would know
already that treatment of the
religion domain in public education has to be impartial as well as
accurate. But, the instructional resources that you rely on may fail that test.
For example, current textbooks inform students that many seminal
events of history derive from religious motivations. Yet they do not likewise
label historic contributions of important skeptics and dissenters as the deeds
of persons acting in good conscience while holding to distinctly irreligious
beliefs. Overlooking nonreligion when teaching about religion tilts the subject
matter playing field. Different Drummers helps you to achieve fairness
and balance.
With neutrality a civic mandate for public school teachers,
it is important that your instruction not privilege any one religion over
others, or privilege religion in general. Different Drummers'
lessons and background materials can help you in your handling of this sometimes
controversial subject matter. The module draws from diverse religious and
freethought areas (e.g., Buddhism, Christianity, 18th century Deism, agnosticism,
Hinduism).
Using the DD Materials to...
Focus on Nonconformist Thinking
if you are a teacher whose curriculum
includes critical thinking, logic, independent reasoning, or similar topics of
study, then you will appreciate material within DD. The program gives particular emphasis to three "habits of
mind" that are frequently exhibited by nonconforming thinkers.
 | divergent thinking |
| inquisitiveness |
| skepticism |
Through a brief sequence of activities, students come to understand and
recognize these styles of thinking and, when given assorted exemplary quotations
and/or invented remarks, readily classify statements by category.
The module offers varied examples of historical situations in which free and
independent thought changed the course of history. Lessons and activities
present historical figures who were nonconformist in their thinking, and
students analyze the situations and scrutinize the various individualists,
always on the lookout for the character traits of inquisitiveness, skepticism,
and or divergent thinking in relation to the individuals.
Through such examples as Socrates, Chaucer, Lavoisier, Wollstonecraft,
Voltaire, Copernicus, Darwin, and Cady Stanton, youngsters grow to appreciate
that different drummers' views may turn out to be of benefit in the long run.
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