Religion in science education

Science education for diversity has long striven to take account of issues to do with gender, socio-economic class, ethnicity and disability. However, it has traditionally made rather less effort to consider issues to do with religious faith. Yet issues to do with religion are becoming increasingly important in school science lessons and certain other educational settings, such as science museums. I examine two possible circumstances where one might wish matters of religion to be included within the teaching of science: when teaching about the nature of science and when teaching about evolution. With regard to the nature of science, considering religion is useful simply for helping learners better understand why certain things come under the purview of science and others don't. With regard to evolution, religious belief is a major reason why many people reject evolution. One can teach evolution in a way that is true to science yet respectful of student who, for religious reasons, feel unable to accept the validity of evolution