Thomas Purifoy, Jr., creator of the Is Genesis History? series, uses footage from that series and the Is Genesis History? Conference (2017) to provide a Creation Science based on the latest scientific evidence. This online course is presented in 22 lessons using videos, reading assignments, and quizzes. The course should take two semesters, and students who complete all requirements should earn one credit for high school science (non-lab). The videos and course material, aside from five books, are accessed online. If you prefer to use the course as a supplement, students don’t need to complete all elements of the lessons.
Those taking the course for credit will read five books that can be purchased separately or within a course bundle from Compass Classroom. The titles of the books are:
Devotional Biology
The New Creationism
Universe by Design
Thousands…Not Billions
Hallmarks of Design
Advanced students might also read Earth’s Catastrophic Past; Faith, Reason, & Earth History; and Creation and Change.
This Creation Science course draws on the expertise of scientists from the realms of paleontology, geology, biology, astronomy, and archaeology. The course is designed for Christian students since it makes reference to the Bible and discusses worldview conflicts. In fact, the introductory overview lesson has students read the first 11 chapters of the book of Genesis. These chapters cover creation and the flood, the two most contentious issues in Scripture that Christians encounter when trying to reconcile evolution with their faith. The course also promotes a young-earth interpretation of the scientific facts.
The lessons are grouped under five headings: Setting the Stage, Understanding the Flood, Understanding Life & Design, Understanding the Stars, and Understanding Archaeology & Culture. Several lessons under each heading focus on narrower topics. For instance, among the many topics covered in lessons within Understanding the Flood are catastrophic plate tectonics, geophysics of the flood, how the continents separated, the formation of mountain ranges, the fossil record, the geologic column, the Grand Canyon, the Grand Staircase, dinosaurs, age dating methods, the pre-flood environment, the post-flood environment, ice ages, and climate change.
Each lesson has several parts, called steps. For example, in the first lesson, you will find these seven steps and a quiz:
- Watch Is Genesis History? (110 minutes) to get an overview of the many arguments for creation from different scientific disciplines.
- Read the guide to the film that sums up the key points.
- Write an essay on the structure of the video. (The guide in step 2 can help students create their outline.)
- Read a long essay (online), "Why Time Matters to the Origins Debate."
- Watch the video, “Exploring Paradigms and Design” (22 min.). (Note: Written transcripts for this and many other videos are included.)
- Read summary information and answer questions about the competing explanatory paradigms of evolutionists and creationists. This assignment has ten questions that can be answered in writing, in discussion, or just through personal reflection. (Suggested answers are visible with one click). Seven additional questions should be answered with short essays. Answers for both sets of questions are not graded or recorded by the course program.
- The next step, titled “Go Deeper,” is optional in each lesson. In this step, students watch a conference lecture by Dr. Danny Faulkner titled “Comparing the Two Paradigms of Earth History” (57 min.).
A quiz at the end of the lesson has 15 questions. Students are allowed to take quizzes in an “open book” fashion and can retake them to improve scores. Questions are a mix of multiple-choice, matching, true/false, and written answers. The program credits students for any written answers since it cannot evaluate them, so parents might want to check written answers themselves. The quiz page says, “The goal of these quizzes is to help you retain the material, not aim for a certain score.”
Most lessons do not include questions other than in the quizzes, so the primary lesson activities are watching videos, reading books and articles, and taking quizzes.
Each of the five sections concludes with an optional section, titled “Advanced Topics.” These are videos and articles that go further in depth. The course describes these as “technical-level discussions on areas that are related to the primary subject but are of secondary interest…not required, but they do include some very interesting material.” I found many of these videos intriguing, but I think most high school students will have more than enough material without getting into the advanced topics.
Evaluating student learning is best done through discussion, but this requires either a group class or a parent/teacher prepared to participate. If neither is possible, parents might ask students to take quizzes in a “closed book” fashion to get an accurate evaluation of their comprehension.
Summary
I love Is Genesis History? as a stand-alone video, but this Creation Science course does a fantastic job of building upon that video and many more, along with great reading material, to put together this strong, science-based course that advocates for a creationist point of view.
