3b: The 19th century
Lesson 3 of 5: Michael Faraday, Electromagnetism and Religion
Aim of the lesson
The students should have:
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Knowledge and understanding of the Religion and Science debate in the 19 th
century with a particular focus on Michael Faraday.
An opportunity to evaluate the ideas outlined
Differentiation / Extension
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3a: Student Resource 6[LA]: Michael Faraday
Assessment
Outcomes of discussion.
Group work on biblical text and different subject areas (Spider diagrams).
Duration 1 Hour
Timings
Starter
Main Activity
Plenary
15 minutes – introduction to Michael Faraday.
35 minutes – activities Electromagnetism and the Bible.
10 minutes – feedback from group discussions.
Intended Age 16 – 19
Previous Knowledge needed by teacher
The teacher should have read 3a: Student Resource 6[LA]: Michael Faraday
Previous Knowledge needed by students
Useful, though not essential, to have studied lesson 4 from Unit 3a [The late 18 th and
early 19th centuries]: Priestly, Wesley and Faraday
Background Reading
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3a: Student Resource 6/6[LA]: Michael Faraday
http://www1.umn.edu/ships/religion/faraday.htm
Cantor, Geoffrey, 1991. Michael Faraday: Scientist and Sandemanian. New
York: St. Martin's Press See ICT Opportunities
Resources
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Student Resource 3: The Word of God
Student Resource 5: Electromagnetism
3a: Student Resource 6: Michael Faraday
3a: Student Resource 6[LA]: Michael Faraday
Science and Religion in Schools Project – Unit 3b: The 19th century
Further Resources
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Ilumina Gold (an electronic bible with encyclopaedia which could be useful to
extend the work with eg. PowerPoint presentations and various images)
A Beginner’s Guide to Ideas, Raeper and Smith, Lion Publisher.
The Philosophy Files, Stephen Law, Dolphin.
The Simpsons and Philosophy; Irwin , Conard, Skoble; Open Court.
Pooh and the Philosophers; J Tyerman Williams; Methuen Publisher.
Philosophy of Religion for A level, A Jordan et al., Stanley Thornes
Philosophy goes to the Movies; Ch. Falzon; Routledge in chapter 1 (pages 33
– 44) discusses the following relevant films:
a) Rear Window (A Hitchcock, 1954)
b) You Only Live Once (F Lang, 1937)
c) Cabaret (Bob Fosse, 1972)
d) Citizen Kane (O Welles, 1941)
e) He Said, She Said (K Kwapis)
f) Hilary and Jackie (A Tucker, 1998)
g) Rashomon (A Kurosawa, 1951)
h) Twelve Angry Men (S Lumet, 1957)
http://www.victorianweb.org/science/science&religion.html
http://www1.umn.edu/ships/religion/faraday.htm
Introduction / Starter activity
This lesson follows on from lesson 4 in Unit 3a: The late c.18 th and early c.19th).
Reiterate some of the issues discussed if you have done that lesson, especially
the following paragraphs from the resource Student Resource 6: Michael
Faraday:
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Michael Faraday was among the scientific giants of the nineteenth century.
He discovered electromagnetic rotation, electromagnetic induction, and
the dynamo. He made significant advances in electrochemistry and
produced aluminum by electrolysis. He isolated benzene. And in a brilliant
technical insight, he reconceived wine-glass-like chemical vessels to
produce the first test tubes. Renowned for his strong empirical research,
Michael Faraday also believed in a literal interpretation of the Bible. His
whole life, both inside the laboratory and out, was dominated by his faith
as a member of the Sandemanians, a small Protestant sect in Britain. His
science was inseparable from his religion. Faraday's faith influenced
several aspects of his science: his motivation for research; his theoretical
orientation; the experimental problems he pursued; his interpretation of
phenomena; and his public communication of science. […]
Even more remarkably, perhaps, religion shaped Faraday's most
"progressive" theoretical thinking. Faraday was unusual for his time in
conceiving electricity and magnetism more in terms of fields of force than
in terms of distinct particles with forces acting at a distance. For the
Sandemanians, God's word in the Bible was immediate and direct. So, too,
were his actions in nature. Faraday denied gaps in the physical world.
Forces could not act across empty space, for example, but only through a
medium. Nor could they could exert influence simultaneously, rather only
in real time. Thus the contemporary concept of atomism--of matter in
discrete billiard-ball-like units--was unthinkable for Faraday the
Science and Religion in Schools Project – Unit 3b: The 19th century
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Sandemanian. Instead, matter was continuous, with each point a centre of
complex webs of forces. While Faraday never fully developed or formalised
this framework, it strongly governed his thinking. Most importantly, it
meant that his models of electricity and magnetism continued to be valid
when field theory later took hold.
Faraday's influence was so vast that it is hard to imagine nineteenth
century science without him. It is equally hard to imagine Faraday's
science without his religion.
Start with the following if you haven’t done that lesson from unit 3b):
Show the students an electric appliance such as a mixer or an electric shaver
or toothbrush. Ask if anyone could explain how such an electric appliance works;
what makes it work? (Eventually you should get to the point: the forces of
electromagnetism inside the coil of the machine).
Now show them a Bible and ask them what the forces at work in side the
machine have got to do with religion (this should completely puzzle them but let
them steam a little bit searching for some ideas).
The answer is Michael Faraday – introduce briefly using resource Student
Resource 6: Michael Faraday
Main Activity
Handout resources Student Resource 3: The Word of God and Student Resource
5: Electromagnetism for the students to read.
Discuss in groups with a quick feedback afterwards: How could ‘The Word of
God’ be seen as an inspiration for the scientific discovery/invention?
Further group work: form groups of students who share same/similar subjects (eg.
Arts, Science, Humanities) and ask them to produce spider diagrams or mind maps
with the name of their particular shared subject area in the middle of the paper. The
following question should be discussed: How could the biblical text inspire me in my
work on my subject?
Plenary
Share the results of the group discussions and spider diagrams.
Science and Religion in Schools Project – Unit 3b: The 19th century