On May 16th, Canterbury Christ Church University will welcome 200 students, teachers and guests for a day of asking and exploring Big Questions like can a robot every truly have a sense of curiosity, can genetic engineering make better people and why does the universe exist.
The LASAR (Learning about Science and Religion) team and the Faculty of Education have been awarded more than £1.5 million to establish how the education system in England can open its classrooms to Big Questions, and equip young people with the ‘knowledge about knowledge’ they need to formulate and examine their own enquiries.
The Epistemic Insight Initiative will involve eight Higher Education institutions, led by Canterbury Christ Church University, with funding from the Templeton World Charity Foundation, the Royal Academy of Engineering, The National Collaborative Outreach Programme and All Saints Education Trust. It will enable researchers and teachers to develop and test strategies over the next three years to build young people’s understanding of how different types of knowledge exist alongside each other in schools and to engage in more dialogue about Big Questions.
With the direct support of the University’s trainee teachers, its research findings will be used to help create a curriculum framework for primary and secondary schools, designed to enable young people to think more deeply and critically about Big Questions across a wide range of subjects. The events planned for schools include a conference at Westminster Abbey on 12th February 2020.
Email lasar@canterbury.ac.uk to register your place or you can also contact Professor Berry Billingsley, Professor of Science Education and Principal Investigator for LASAR (Learning about Science and Religion).