Spring Trip -- Day 1 -- photos galore

Our little class is on a big trip! Here's an assortment of photos to give you a sense of what we've been up to. These cover day one, which found us departing from S-K, heading to the Creation Museum in Kentucky, and then finishing up the day in Cave City. 
(For even more photos, visit our Twitter page. You don't need to be a Twitter user to see it. Just click this link: https://twitter.com/JasonsClassTrip )

 

The moment of departure.

Rest stop

The grounds of the Creation Museum. We had our sack lunches next to a tranquil pond. They have quite a lovely garden. As we prepared to go in, we discussed the following (mangled and misattributed, but still useful) quote:

"It is the sign of an educated mind to be able to consider an idea without accepting it."

We parsed the meaning together, essentially coming up with a directive for how to tour the exhibits in the museum: Don't scoff at them and don't dismiss them out of hand. Instead, think about what they are trying to say. Consider what arguments they're trying to use. You don't have to agree with the argument, but you should try to understand the point of view being expressed, and where it comes from.

After that brief, but useful conversation, we went in. It's among the weirdest places I've ever been, and the photos don't really do it justice.  

Henry considers.

The entire museum is a large, elaborate persuasive essay. The thesis is that one can interpret the Christian Bible to be literally true, and that the bulk of scientific understanding can be interpreted to prove this worldview. 

The museum is divided into many rooms with different purposes. One early room has a bunch of displays that compare and contrast "Man's Word" and "God's Word." 

Here, for example, is "Man's Word" on the timeline of the universe. We've been learning about this timeline in school recently. The museum rejects this version of events, and puts forth one that says that the Earth is only about 6000 years old. 

There are a lot of displays with animatronics. Here is a depiction of the Garden of Eden, complete with man, penguins, and (just out of frame) dinosaurs.

There is a big section on the story of Noah's ark. In class, we have discussed the prevalence of flood myths around the world, including the epic of Gilgamesh, which was the subject of a school play a few years back. That flood story also involves a boat created to save living things. 

The dioramas in this section are amazing. 

Life on the ark. 

There are a lot of dinosaurs at the Creation Museum. Fossils, pictures, animatronic, and stuffed ones in the gift shop. Back at school, we've been learning about fossil formation in science with Lisa. 

We've talked a lot about religion and mythology this year, and the roles that they play in cultures. This stop was a fascinating exploration of one example of that. We'll surely be unpacking what we saw next week back in school. 


Back to the bus: 

DInner and dancing in Cave City, Kentucky:

Our home for the next couple nights.