The Curriculum Standards for Social Studies (1994) state that in the early grades students should "compare and contrast different stories or accounts about past events, people, places, or situations, identifying how they contribute to our understanding of the past;" and "demonstrate an understanding that people in different times and places view the world differently;" (p. 34) In the middle grades students are to "identify and describe selected historical periods and patterns of change within and across cultures, such as the rise of civilizations, the development of transportation systems, the growth and breakdown of colonial systems, and others;" and "develop critical sensitivities such as empathy and skepticism regarding attitudes, values, and behaviors of people in different historical contexts;" (p. 34)

These abilities are necessary when working with events in recorded history as well as information regarding prehistoric times.

It is difficult for many adults to comprehend the length of time involved when items from prehistory are discussed. Systematic teaching concerning the meaning of millions and billions of years can take place at a time when students are capable of working with the mathematical concepts involved. While some of these ideas are best understood and analyzed by junior and senior high students, children of seven and eight are often fascinated by dinosaurs, and teachers of this age group may find themselves trying to help children understand prehistoric times. The following pamphlet may be helpful background for teachers in understanding one point of view.

Geologic time. United States Department of Interior, Geological Survey, 20 pages. The pamphlet explains how a relative time sale and an atomic time scale are used to measure the age of the earth.

Encyclopedias, books about dinosaurs, and displays in museums contain useful information.

Whenever a time line is used, teachers need to be aware of the varying ideas held by people regarding events in prehistory. An article from a religious journal gives suggestions for the construction of time lines and illustrates the conflict that may arise for teachers or children trying to fix a beginning date. Thomas (1954) suggested the following:

1. Put a long line on the blackboard marked at the beginning for creation, and showing marks for the thousands of years before Christ.

2. Place the Birth of Our Lord toward the middle of the line.

3. Show that two thousand years have passed since the birth of Christ and mark the current year.

4. Mention some outstanding historical events and point out how they are relatively recent as compared with the time since creation.

5. Bring out the fact that no one knows how long the line will continue; yet, God existed before time started and souls will continue after the line has ended.

The writer of this article apparently had a fixed opinion on the number of years from creation to the birth of Christ. Conflicts will arise in the minds of people adhering to this viewpoint when geological time lines that extend millions of years into prehistoric times are presented. The classroom teacher should be aware of the various views students may have and be ready to approach the topic in a manner that is sympathetic to the background and needs of children. Forcing a particular point of view upon them through tests, single text adoption, or other media can create real problems. Many kinds of people are learning more each day about the history of the earth. Being dogmatic about scientific theories can be as limiting and devastating to a child as insisting that your present religious concepts are the final ones.

A rather detailed discussion of questions that may arise is included to help you understand a variety of points of view. Which point of view do you hold? What experiences in your life have caused you to have your view?

Conflict between religious ideas and ideas concerning events in prehistory exists in the minds of many people. Some believe the time period involved has stretched over billions of years and others say only thousands of years. Some suppress conflict, some resolve it, and others feel they must accept either a scientific or a religious point of view. Those who question are often confronted by one of several options.

1. I have no problem with accepting both my religious beliefs and scientific explanations about the development of the earth and its inhabitants.

2. Evolution is only a theory and we know the scriptures to be true.

3. If the Hebrew scriptures cannot be taken literally in Genesis, how can the rest be accepted?

Such responses may leave the questioner with a puzzled feeling but fearful of asking further questions. Holum (1965) states, "What is trivial for some is unnerving for others. What are mole hills for some are mountains for others." This is true of some children in our classes.

We know that questions about religious and scientific ideas date back to at least the times of Aristotle if not prior to his life. Fossils found by early people caused confusion. Perhaps they were ornaments for the inside of the earth or ways used by nature to fool people. According to Stokes (1966) others thought seeds or eggs dropping into crevices grew under the surface to produce fossils. How old was the earth? How long had it taken for it to form? Some used the genealogies of the Hebrew scriptures to calculate the age of the earth. Stokes (1966) stated the following:

In 1654, Archbishop James Usher concluded from scriptural analysis that the earth had been created in 4004 B.C. This was printed as a marginal date in several editions of the Bible and was quite generally believed by most Christians. A few years later the learned Biblical scholar, Dr. John Lightfoot of Cambridge, felt that he could be even more specific, and wrote that "Heaven and earth, center and circumference, were made in the same instance of time, and clouds full of water, and man was created by the Trinity on the 26th of October 4004 B.C. at 9 o'clock in the morning." (p. 18)

Conflict for people using the genealogies to calculate the age of the earth arose. Present-day excavations and findings of early people seem to conflict with the time span from Adam to the present day. In regard to this, Bowman (1962) gives one response.

Hebrew history is traced back to Adam, the ancestor of all (Gen. 5:1ff), and even the early pre-exilic narratives contain "genealogies" found in the earliest documents of the Pentateuch (J and E) are not individual pedigrees. Rather they are supposed origins and recognized relationships of nations, cities, and people known to the author, set into the form of personal genealogical tables. While the early Hebrews may have believed the names represented individual progenitors of the groups names, the device of genealogical table, used also by the Greeks, Romans, and others for recording early "history" in a compact form is a valuable didactic and mnemonic aid. (p. 363)

How long had it taken for the earth and its inhabitants to come into existence? Belief in a single, short period for creation called catastrophism had been used to explain why the earth may be only a few thousand years old. Noah's flood was a catastrophe used to explain the effects of erosion on the land. It was believed that storms accompanying the flood caused the formation of mountains and hills. Fossil remains were said to be a result of this flood. The flood waters were believed to have raised huge blocks of ice and transported them to warmer places. Early theologians and scientists used the flood to explain most evidence of change in the earth's surface. Others said the flood, according to Genesis 7:4, was of fresh water origin. How could fossil corals and other tropical and salt-water forms of life found in mid-continental areas then be explained? Could such stenotopic formations be explained by the flood?

Some early thinkers opposed the doctrine of catastrophism and favored the idea of uniformitarianism. This is the belief that the earth has been formed in a gradual and uniform way. It sought to explain the past by observing processes in the present.

Some estimated the age of the earth by examining the amount of salt in the ocean, the rate at which sediments had been deposited and the rate at which the earth had cooled. These estimations gave another age for the earth.

An Englishman, William Smith, who worked as an engineer between 1787 and 1839, found that different layers of sedimentary rock could be identified by the fossils in them. From his work and that of later geologists the principle of faunal succession was developed. Stokes (1966) describes it in this manner. "Groups of fossil plants and animals succeed each other in a definite and determinable order, and any period of time can be recognized by its respective fossils (p. 80). He believed that slow, progressive changes took place and life changed from the simple to the complex. This came to be known as organic evolution.

Radiometric dating methods replaced the earlier procedures for determining the age of the earth and both absolute and relative means were utilized in calculating the age of rocks and fossils. Scientific evidence suggested to some that the age of the earth was several billion years. There were differences among the calculations made by various scientists. For years people accepted either a scientific or a religious viewpoint and found it difficult to communicate with each other.

The Hebrew scriptures, when taken literally or used as a 'book of science', have created problems for some people. Varying explanations of when and how they were prepared are currently held. One possible explanation of how the Hebrew scriptures were written and an understanding of the people involved may help some questioners "perceive time" through the eyes of the authors. This explanation says the Hebrew people were nomads who lived in the northern Arabian peninsula. Smart (1969) describes their religious beliefs.

Their religion was like that of other primitive peoples. They felt that manna pervaded certain sacred and mysterious objects, such as the strange outcrops of rocks in the desert and the trees of the oases. They venerated stone pillars as containing life-giving power and cajoled the personal spirits that haunted the sandstorms and the night. For them divinities (elohim) dwelt in nature and in the sky. Different tribes each had particular deities who were especially concerned with their affairs. Their religion, in short, was not at all unlike that of the desert Arabs whom Mohammed at a later date succeeded in converting to the religion of Allah, and who were such a potent force in the history of the Middle East. (p. 266)

In the second millennium B. C. these tribes began to move into Mesopotamia. The Hebrew scriptures state that the migration into Canaan was led by a man named Abraham. According to Smart (1969) "Abraham's religion, so far as we can tell, centered on his belief in a god whom he called El-Shaddai, 'Divinity of the Mountains'. There is evidence that his tribe also venerated ancestral images" (p. 267).

When the ancient Hebrews began to keep records, it was not because of any scientific interest in history but because the events in their lives were meaningful. In history they saw the acts of God guiding them onward. Stories about Abraham (lived around 2,000 B.C.) were orally transmitted from one generation to another. Some believe the written tradition about him came into existence many years after his life and was produced by several people. These authors wrote history for people of their own time with their special religious needs in mind.

The Hebrew people believed God revealed himself in history -- especially in their exodus from Egypt. The creation material in Genesis was prelude but Holum (1965) says, "Every event the Hebrews viewed through religious spectacles" (p. 16). The Hebrews were conscious of a spiritual destiny and believed they were the ones through whom God would send the Messiah for people. People convinced of a future destiny try to understand their past history. The "why" of creation needed to be explained.

As stated earlier, the Hebrews were nomads without large libraries. Their history was kept in mind in saga form until they settled and built cities. Then sagas that had been committed to memory were written down. Each tribe wrote things down. Some stories were recorded twice and were not stated identically or traditions were woven together. The Hebrew scriptures were created out of these materials. People began to ask questions about the past and why it was meaningful. The records were edited. The material in Genesis was compiled on the basis of what they knew, their sagas, and the fact that their faith and history was meaningful to them. Stories similar to those in Genesis are found n the history of the Mesopotamian people.

Some say the writer(s) in Genesis do(es) not answer specifically when creation took place but merely say it took place "in the beginning" (Genesis 1:1). It may have been billions of years ago. They believe the material in Genesis is not meant to be scientific descriptions of how creation took place.

Others view the material in Genesis as having been written in different ways and believe in a definite six-day creation period. They find it difficult to reconcile a six-day creation period with one extending over billions of years and emphasize God's omnipotent qualities.

Some suggest the language of the scriptures needs to be taken in a figurative way. Others suggest perhaps the story of creation was flashed into the consciousness of a primeval prophet in a series of visions over a period of six days. Some hold that "days" are not to be thought of as the regular twenty-four hour period but as ages similar to the successive ages of the geological time columns.

Dummelow (1968) asks why authors recorded the material. What purpose were the writings to serve?

The purpose of the writer in Gn I is not scientific but religious. His scientific knowledge may be bounded by the horizon of the age in which he lived, but the religious truths he teaches are irrefutable and eternal. To put the matter another way: The scientific account of creation has been written by the finger of God upon the crust of the earth and men are slowly spelling it out; but the religious account of creation is written in the first chapter of Genesis, in letters that all can read. Both accounts are from God, and should be received accordingly. (p. xxx)

Social studies teachers study the setting of events and people's responses to those events. Different settings have caused different why questions and likewise different answers. Today, many citizens ask why the views of those who wrote in the past do not match current views. People throughout history have asked why questions. Their reasons for asking them have been different. One of the most common why questions has been the following: "Why is life so difficult for me/us when others seem to prosper?" Attempting to study such issues through only one or a few disciplines can lead to incomplete answers. Social studies teachers need to examine the work of archaeologists, sociologists, historians, economists, and theologians to gain insights into relationships existing at the time of the people who first told a story.

The story of creation in Genesis 1:1-2:4a is an example of a well-known piece of literature which many scholars believe deals with a why question. Some historians believe it was written at a time when the Jewish people were exiles in Babylon. Economists tell us that the Babylonians were thriving. Sociologists and political scientists tell us that the Hebrews represented a powerless minority living under the rule of a powerful, proud group of people. Archaeologists have helped us learn about the beautiful buildings and hanging gardens of the thriving Babylonians. Linguists have deciphered clay tablets with writings which add to the historical knowledge of the time period. Theologians have told us that the Hebrews were monotheists living in a polytheistic society. Research experts in each of these disciplines have worked to understand the time period. It is possible that in such a situation the Hebrew people were quite likely to ask, "Why do these people who worship the sun, moon, stars, planets, and other objects of nature prosper while we who are monotheists suffer?" Theologians at the time of the Babylonian exile very likely responded to this why question. Some believe the answer which was given was written in a form which was easy to remember and powerful in its impact. The story of the creation of the universe was placed in a framework of six days of work and a seventh day of rest. Work was important to the Hebrews but so was the Sabbath. Their keeping of the Sabbath set them apart from the polytheists who ruled over them. Conrad Hyers (1984) tells us the following:

Each day of creation takes on two principal categories of divinity in the pantheons of the day and declares that these are not gods at all but creatures, creations of the one true God who is the only one, without a second or third. Each day dismisses an additional cluster of deities, arranged in a cosmological and symmetrical order.

On the first day the gods of light and darkness are dismissed; on the second day, the gods of sky and sea; on the third day, earth gods and gods of vegetation; on the fourth day, sun, moon, and star gods. The fifth and sixth days remove from the animal kingdom any associations with divinity. Finally human existence, too, is emptied of any intrinsic divinity, while at the same time all human beings, from the greatest to the least--not just pharaohs, kings, and heroes--are granted a divine likeness. In that divine likeness, all human beings are given the royal prerogatives of dominion over the earth and of mediation between heaven and earth.

On each day of creation another set of idols is smashed. These, O Israel, are no gods at all-not even the great gods and rulers of conquering superpowers. They are the creations of that transcendent One who is not to be confused with any piece of the furniture of the universe of creaturely habitation. The creation is good, it is very good, but it is not divine. (pp. 44-45)

The powerless Hebrews were given an inner power which gave them purpose for living. In their suffering they were given a high purpose for existence. They were to consider themselves as a royal people who were to show care and concern for all of creation.

According to this viewpoint, the writer of Genesis 1:1-2:4a speaks to a people in a historical setting about remaining true to their religious beliefs. A study about religions and the time period in which their literature was written can help teachers and students understand the people and their why questions. Likewise a study of people today, their why questions, and their answers as they relate to economics, sociology, political science, theology, and other disciplines can help create an understanding of actions and reactions.

For some, religion and God are equal to magic and the unknown. Once something is explained, God is left out. For them it is difficult to believe that God would follow natural laws and use human events in accomplishing things. For others the mere fact that God would follow laws and create in an orderly way (uniformitarianism) is much more meaningful than a belief in catastrophism. Religions not based on the Hebrew scriptures offer other explanations and stories of prehistory. Creation stories which deal with why questions continue to be discovered and published. One recent addition to the literature for children is Virginia Hamilton's (1988) In the beginning. It contains the creation stories of many diverse cultural groups. An examination of all aspects of the historical settings in which these were told or written continues to be enhanced by the work of archaeologists, sociologists, historians, scientists, theologians, and others. As children in a class study their own backgrounds or those of others, many of these religious views will be encountered. They will be found while examining literature, holidays, and customs of people.

Just as there are wide differences among religious points of view, there are varying explanations given by scientists concerning the origin of the universe. Some scientists currently suggest a catastrophic beginning, whereas others continue to propose a slow, evolving process. current affairs magazines will often highlight the arguments of one scientific theory or another. Many new theories may arise in our lifetimes. Our personal points of view may change. Work to help each student in a classroom feel accepted and free to examine his or her own explanations for the mysteries of life and time. Help students see the differences between how and why questions.

Things to Think About

It is legal to teach about religions in public education. (See the document prepared by the National Council for the Social Studies.) Beliefs of teachers and students will affect how lessons taught are perceived. Think about the following questions.

National Council for the Social Studies Position Statement - Teaching About Religions http://www.socialstudies.org/standards/positions/religion.html

1. What do I believe about creation?

2. How does this affect the way I would work with time lines in lessons which deal with the past?

3. What are the beliefs of children I teach or might teach in the future?

4. What historic events will be most meaningful to various children? How were these events affected by religious beliefs?