Students at the Adventist College of Imperatriz (Cadi) in Brazil now have a specific place to learn the scientific arguments that underlie the creationist model of the origin of the universe. On Nov. 27, the school received the first Creationist Minicenter in the southern region of Maranhão .
Upon entering the site, the visitor is invited to interact physically with the materials on display. There is, for example, a microscope which shows the detailed structure of a plant cell to show that with its technology it cannot have formed at random. There are also graphic materials explaining how fossils suggest that life on Earth has not evolved. Or the model of a geological column which reveals how the earth's crust is organized. There is also the reproduction of an archaeological excavation area in which the discovery of bones and fossils of extinct animals can be simulated. In addition, the center has books, models, posters, and other educational materials for students to use.
“The Mini-Center certainly came to support our study of creationism, a topic to which we attach great importance,” explains professor Patrícia Barbosa, educational adviser of the College and one of the organizers of the space. “With physical and practical material, the student can have more contact with and learn more about this subject.”
The main objective of the initiative is to offer an opportunity for students to have practical and permanent contact with the evidence of creationism. This is what Pastor Henilson Erthal, director of Adventist Education for the Northern region, emphasizes.
“The philosophy of Adventist education is infused with the creationist model of the origin of life,” he says. “When we as Adventists consider who we are, we are convicted that we are the fruit of the hand of a Creator. Therefore, in order to better establish our identity in a practical sense, we invest in establishing these places.”
Cadi's Mini Creation Center is one of 29 similar units distributed in Adventist schools in northern Brazil.
Creationist Show
As part of the inauguration program, the College held the Creationist Exhibition in the same week, which took the form of a Science Fair. In it, students had their first contact with the material acquired for the project and were able to share what they learned with visitors. 9th-grade student Gabriely Mingote stayed at the microscopic cell study stand.
“I learned a lot about cells and dinosaurs,” he says. “It is very good when the school promotes these events, because we can learn about different things and get out of the classroom routine.”
School units in Adventist education in Brazil teach creationism based on scientific arguments. According to the statement of the Network, there is no imposition of religious beliefs or the omission of evolutionism. That is, students receive all the knowledge necessary for their development, which includes study of the two models.
This article was originally published on the South American Division’s Portuguese news site