Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Fun with Garbage!


My primary ministry is church planting, but we also have a Bible college ministry to provide future pastors for the churches we are starting. One of my classes this semester is Physical Science. We have a pretty low budget Science department down here at Puerto Rico Baptist College and so are always looking for inexpensive ways to teach science. I have worked hard at finding inexpensive but quality projects and have come up with some experiments that the students seem to enjoy.

Yesterday we made the "Cartesian Diver" out of 2 liter coke bottles, straws and paper clips. When you squeeze the bottle, the little submarine you made inside the bottle sinks and when you relax your grip, the submarine goes up. With a little practice you can cause it to suspend itself perfectly still in the center of the bottle. I made an object lesson out of it by talking about the ups and downs of emotions, squeezing the sides of the bottle to show how pressure and stress may cause depression. Then I took off the top of the bottle to show a soul open to God in prayer. Then I squeezed again to show what happens to a praying Christian under stress. The submarine does not go down, but rises higher than ever before!

I really enjoy teaching science lessons that can be used as object lessons. I can imagine the 15 students in my class using this object lesson when they graduate and serve in churches all around the world. And then I get a really big smile on my face and my spirits rise higher than ever before!
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