1. LASAR (Learning about Science and Religion) see www.faradayschools.com Can science tell us everything about being human? Research based intervention to teach secondary students about the nature of scientific questions. 1 The LASAR (Learning about Science and Religion) Project Principal investigator: Dr. Berry Billingsley Presenter: Dr. Mehdi Nassaji 7th TEAN Annual Conference

2. LASAR (Learning about Science and Religion) see www.faradayschools.com 2 This document is an overview of the workshop conducted by a member of LASAR team at the 7 th TEAN annual conference (5_6 May, 2016, Birmingham) For Further information please contact the LASAR project: LASAR@Reading.ac.uk

3. LASAR (Learning about Science and Religion) see www.faradayschools.com Power and Limits of science 3 Our research shows that children often have difficulty in appreciating that science has limits and particularly, there are questions about being human that science cannot fully answer. In the workshop after introducing the LASAR project, we provided information and activities to help school students progress develop their reasoning about power and limits of science.

4. LASAR (Learning about Science and Religion) see www.faradayschools.com The LASAR PROJECT (Learning About Science and Religion) Set up in 2009 Discovering the social, psychological and pedagogical barriers prevents engaging with questions which bridge science and religion Power and limits of science Relationships between science and religion Opportunities in formal education Teachers' approaches to teaching about the nature of science

5. LASAR (Learning about Science and Religion) see www.faradayschools.com LASAR Activities: FaradaySchools http://www.faradayschools.com/

6. LASAR (Learning about Science and Religion) see www.faradayschools.com LASAR Activities: School Events

7. LASAR (Learning about Science and Religion) see www.faradayschools.com The Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, 2013

8. LASAR (Learning about Science and Religion) see www.faradayschools.com LASAR Activities: School Workshops

9. LASAR (Learning about Science and Religion) see www.faradayschools.com LASAR Activities: Research

10. LASAR (Learning about Science and Religion) see www.faradayschools.com The Being Human project (Part of the LASAR Project) 10 Looking at young people’s ideas and explanations of what it means to be human, focusing on questions raised by contemporary biology and Neurosciences

11. LASAR (Learning about Science and Religion) see www.faradayschools.com Why? School students encounter news of advances in contemporary biology and neurosciences School students’ perceptions of what it means to be human are influenced by such reports The need is for concise conundrums which reflect scholarly debate authentically and accessible for young people.

12. LASAR (Learning about Science and Religion) see www.faradayschools.com Two student workshops 12 The detail and the rationale behind two student workshops to help school students improve their thinking about the nature of science was presented at the conference.

13. LASAR (Learning about Science and Religion) see www.faradayschools.com Student Workshop1: Overview 13 Workshop title: What is science? The workshop is about understanding the complex and multi-faceted characteristics of science by synthesising answers to fundamental questions, such as what is science, how does it work and why is it important. The workshop aims to identify the characteristics of different scientific approaches, compare them and discuss applying them in order to develop a deeper understanding of the nature of science.

14. LASAR (Learning about Science and Religion) see www.faradayschools.com Educational Objective 14 To consider what is meant by ‘working scientifically’ – and how as science teachers we can develop children’s understanding of the nature, power and limits of science.

15. LASAR (Learning about Science and Religion) see www.faradayschools.com Student Workshop2: Overview 15 Workshop title: Can a robot hear: Pushing the boundaries of robotics The workshop focuses on whether we can potentially make a robot indistinguishable from human beings. As our research data show, through the educational journey in this workshop, the majority of participants come to the conclusion that even if we could make a robot which is not scientifically distinguishable from human beings, it is not the same as human beings. The workshop helps school students to appreciate that personality is not reduced to what science can investigate, though science can inform non-scientific questions about personhood.

16. LASAR (Learning about Science and Religion) see www.faradayschools.com Educational Objectives 16 To increase their understanding of cutting edge science and engineering, To develop and apply their analytic, problem-solving, design, and computational thinking skills To appreciate that the natural sciences provide answers to many questions about the physical world and inform our thinking about bigger questions such as moral questions. To know why some questions are more amenable to scientific methods than others and why there are some questions that the natural sciences cannot ever answer. To appreciate that engineers can test for observable correlates of consciousness and not consciousness itself.

17. LASAR (Learning about Science and Religion) see www.faradayschools.com Contact LASAR Summer residential (August.2016) Free workshops at schools Conference : Science and Religion in Education 28 October 2016 Oxford University, Department of Education LASAR@Reading.ac.uk WWW.faradayschools.com