Curriculum FAQ
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After years of getting requests for curricula, BioLogos began developing Integrate in 2017. Focus groups with educators revealed they weren’t looking for a full new science curriculum, but rather quality, vetted resources to help students make deeper connections between their Christian faith and the science they were learning.
Integrate is a flexible faith and science curriculum. Designed for home educators and teachers at private Christian schools (grades 6-12), Integrate fosters a safe space for students to ask questions and explore exciting areas of science through the lens of biblical faith. Integrate helps Christian young people grow in their faith in Christ as they develop a deeper love and stronger understanding of the world God has made.
The series of unit studies that comprise Integrate is organized around the main topics covered in a biology course and provides structured activities for a traditional classroom or homeschool use. Pair Integrate with your preferred science curriculum, or pick a unit or two to enrich your Bible or worldview course. The modular design gives you flexibility to pick and choose the activities that best suit your goals, time constraints, and students’ interests.
Integrate is designed with the needs of Christian school teachers, homeschool parents, and homeschool co-op teachers in mind. It could also be used at home by parents whose children attend schools where it is unlikely many of the topics covered by the Integrate curriculum will be addressed. Public school science teachers may also find it a valuable resource for classroom activities that deal with the reliability of scientific evidence and the ethical questions science raises. The modular design allows teachers to pick and choose the kinds of activities that best suit their goals, time constraints, and students’ interests.
- Interviews with leading Christian scholars and scientists
- Sound theology and Bible interpretation, vetted by Bible scholars, theologians, and pastors
- Accurate and reliable scientific information, vetted by qualified scientists
- Hands-on science activities aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards
- Adaptable for a single student or a large class
- Easy, open-and-go, modular lesson plans
BioLogos explores God’s Word and God’s World to inspire authentic faith for today.
In 2006 Dr. Francis S. Collins, then Director of the Human Genome Project, wrote The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief, sharing his journey from atheism to Christian belief. He showed that science is not in conflict with biblical faith, but instead enhances it. In the book, Collins coined the term “BioLogos”, combining the Greek words bios (life) and logos (Christ, the Word).
Collins was inundated with letters after the publication of the book, particularly from young people who, often for the first time, saw how modern science and Christian faith could be in harmony. This prompted Collins to found the ministry of BioLogos to provide virtual and actual meeting places where the best Christian minds in the sciences, theology, and other fields could meet for the good of the church and as a witness to the world.
With a commitment to spirited and gracious dialogue and a confidence in the ultimate harmony between God’s Word and God’s world, BioLogos has worked since then to transform the conversation on science and faith in the church and the public square.
The BioLogos Beliefs statement is affirmed in full by each member of our staff and Board.
Integrate is written from an ecumenical Protestant perspective. It is designed to create teachable moments, open up discussion, and foster a safe space for students to navigate their personal faith-science questions. Instructors are free to infuse the lessons with the perspective of their particular faith tradition or denomination. Integrate teaches students how to find truth in Scripture for themselves, provides them with quality resources to evaluate and discuss, and presents them with questions designed to help them build their own Christian worldview.
Integrate is written with the goal of approaching scientific and ethical issues from an ecumenical Christian perspective. It is up to the instructors to provide specific doctrinal instruction at the teachable moments we hope the curriculum will open up. The developers are Protestant and BioLogos materials address the questions and theological concerns common in the Evangelical Christian demographic. However, Integrate does not attempt to indoctrinate students into a set of right answers. The views and beliefs of non-Protestant Christian groups are not specifically contested as wrong or misguided. Many of the ethical questions explored would be of interest to all Judeo-Christian groups.
Both. Our distinctive position is called evolutionary creation. In affirming God’s role as creator of all things, as described in the Bible, we are creationists. Yet we also believe that the diversity and interrelation of all life on earth are best explained by the God-ordained process of evolution with common descent.
Integrate comes from an evolutionary creationist perspective. It teaches the scientific consensus on the age of the earth and evolution (and climate change for that matter).
That said, Integrate is written with sensitivity to the fact that the evolutionary creationist perspective will challenge many Christian students’ worldview. We have made an effort to ensure that other Christian perspectives on origins are discussed respectfully. Reflection assignments and discussion questions are intentionally open-ended and allow students to process the material in the context of their own beliefs and values without expecting they adopt any one “correct” perspective.
Finally, the majority of Integrate content is focused on other topics besides creation and evolution. Read one young earth creationist homeschool parent’s experience of teaching through Ways of Knowing, DNA Technologies and Ethics, and Caring for People and the Planet.
Integrate is a project of BioLogos. The author team includes scientists, teachers, and homeschool parents, all of whom follow Christ. Science and theology content has been reviewed by experts in relevant disciplines, and all units have been field-tested in both homeschool and Christian school settings. Feedback from expert reviewers and pilot teachers was incorporated during multiple stages of revision to ensure scientific, theological, and pedagogical excellence.
Principle Authors: Kathryn Applegate, April M. Cordero, Christy Hemphill, Sarah Bodbyl Roels, Diane Sweeney, Kendra Terpstra
Integrate was made possible through the generous financial support of the John Templeton Foundation, TBF Foundation, and other supporters. The opinions expressed in this resource are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funders. If you are interested in supporting BioLogos projects like Integrate, please give today!
Since Integrate is not a science curriculum, if you are intending to use it to supplement a science class, you will also need a science curriculum of your choosing. Most Integrate activities do not require any additional materials beyond basic school supplies and household items. A small number of the Experience activities make use of basic lab supplies such as a microscope and slides or require purchase of specific materials which are noted in the lesson plan.
Integrate is designed to supplement the typical units found in an introductory biology course. It can be used successfully with Novare’s General Biology, Campbell’s Biology, Miller & Levine’s Biology, or any other standard biology textbook or instructional program.
Because the units are designed to stand alone and much of the content is generally applicable to other areas of science, several can be used in other courses, such as Earth science, environmental science, and physics.
Because Integrate covers biblical interpretation and reflection, theology, and ethics, the units may also be appropriate for Bible and worldview courses.
Please see our course pairing recommendations and corequisite science for each unit (e.g. nature of science, cells, genetics, human body, evolution, ecology).
Download the list of units, and browse the individual unit pages for more information about the contents of each. Please see our course pairing recommendations and corequisite science for each unit (e.g. nature of science, cells, genetics, human body, evolution, ecology).
An Integrate unit addresses a cluster of Essential Questions related to a topical area (e.g. DNA technologies and ethics, climate change, Bible interpretation and science, evolution). Units are composed of modules, each of which is a self-contained set of activities with one main focus. Modules are designed in sequence such that they build on each other, but you may pick and choose which modules to use within a given unit.
Each unit contains one or more of each of the following module types:
Meet: A short video introducing students to a Christian role model in an academic field that relates to the unit’s topic. Discussion questions are provided to help students personally connect with the content of the video and get them thinking about some of the essential questions the unit will explore.
Grow: A devotional on a Christian virtue that includes guided Scripture reading and reflection questions. While the Grow module typically appears near the beginning of the unit, it could really be used at any point.
Engage: An activity that invites students to explore a topic related to the intersection of science and faith and respond in a meaningful way.
Experience: A hands-on activity that interacts with specific (often scientific) content that is important for students to understand and address from a Christian perspective.
Integrate: A final, reflection-based activity that invites the student to assess and apply what they have learned in the unit as a whole.
Although the Integrate modules are designed to promote active learning, they were not named with this particular instructional model in view. The overlap between some of the Integrate module names (explore and engage) and the phases of the NGSS 5E instructional model is unintentional.
The units are not cumulative and do not need to be used in a particular order, although they are arranged in a suggested order that corresponds to the typical progression of topics in an introductory biology course. Units grouped by theme are available in bundles.
Within each unit, activities are modular. You can choose to use only selected units that interest you, and you can also choose to use only certain activities within the units.
The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are research-based, cutting-edge K–12 science standards. They set expectations for what students should know and be able to do. To date 44 states have adopted NGSS or have standards based on the underlying framework.
While not an NGSS curriculum, Integrate has many points of alignment with NGSS. To aid instructors who refer to NGSS in their lesson planning, we have aligned all Integrate science activities with the standards. Please see the NGSS Alignment for Integrate.
While Integrate is written to be used with high school freshmen or sophomores, it can be used to supplement an AP or college biology course. The instructor can modify the level and expectations appropriately.
While Integrate is written to be used with high school freshmen or sophomores, some activities could be used with motivated and advanced middle school life science students. The mature themes raised by some of the activities may not be appropriate for middle school students. Also younger students may not yet have developed the abstract reasoning skills that many of the discussion questions presume. It would be up to the instructor to modify the level and expectations appropriately. Please see our recommended grade levels for each unit as a guide.
Please see our course pairing guide for estimated teaching times for each unit. Teaching times for a complete unit range from 2-3 hours to 5-7 hours. This does not include homework or special projects that may be assigned outside of class. However, individual modules within each unit are self-contained lessons, so instructors can pick and choose which modules to use based on time constraints. The lesson plan for each unit includes estimated teaching times for each module to assist in planning.
At this time, Integrate does not include tests and quizzes. We do provide answer keys for science activities and sample answers throughout to guide classroom discussions.
Yes. Simply make a copy and save to your personal Google Drive folder. As you edit, please make a note on the document that the file has been modified from the original and retain all relevant permissions details. See our Copyright and Usage Agreement for the extent to which you may distribute modified files.
Integrate is a downloadable teacher’s resource, not an online student course. Many activities include handouts that teachers can either print for classroom use or share electronically with students. Some activities make use of web-based videos or other online media resources. For these the instructor will need a computer, internet access, and a projector, or students would need access to personal computers or tablets and internet to complete that component of the activity.
Not at this time. We hope to make this possible in the future. You may certainly print a hard copy of the lesson plans and student handouts. Also note that the electronic format allows you to edit handouts for maximum flexibility.
No. The curriculum is designed to supplement a high school biology course. We assume your student has access to what he or she needs to learn high school biology. One of the advantages of Integrate is that the vetting of resources has been done by people with expertise in relevant areas, so instructors can be confident the activities are good ones, even if they lack the background to personally evaluate the content. Furthermore, many of the activities are Bible/theology oriented, since this is a resource aimed at faith/learning integration.
Integrate is written to the instructor, not the student. The modules are set up so that instructors can select appropriate activities from what is offered. We presume that an instructor is choosing how activities are implemented and setting the expectations for how work will be evaluated. Also, most activities assume there will be opportunity for discussion and feedback. A motivated student could potentially use the resources incorporated in the Integrate activities to foster independent investigation into the various topics. Parents and teachers should be aware that the curriculum is not designed to be used for independent learning, nor is it an online course.
The activities and assignments are designed to be adaptable to both classroom use and one-on-one or small group instruction. However, since discussion and interaction are important parts of many activities, home educators should plan on doing the activities with their student to provide this interpersonal component.
Integrate is written to be used with typical high school freshmen or sophomores. It could potentially be used to supplement an AP Biology or dual enrollment community college course with older students. Some activities could be used with motivated middle school life science students, but some of the topics addressed may not be appropriate for middle school students. Also middle school students may not be developmentally ready for the kind of abstract reasoning the activities rely on. It would be up to the instructor to modify the level and expectations appropriately.
Please see our article A Homeschooler’s Guide to High School Biology. You may also wish to read How do I Homeschool from an Evolutionary Creation Perspective? by Integrate team member Christy Hemphill. Other homeschool content can be found at Home Educator Resources.
Yes. Integrate activities are written with sensitivity to the fact that many classrooms will include students from a variety of perspectives on origins, students with differing levels of background knowledge, and students who have been exposed to material that directly contradicts or attempts to discredit scientific consensus. We recognize that evolutionary creation will challenge many Christian students’ worldviews and have made an effort to ensure that other Christian perspectives on origins are discussed respectfully. Reflection assignments and discussion questions are intentionally open-ended and allow students to process the material in the context of their own beliefs and values without expecting they adopt any one “correct” perspective.
Yes! We also offer interactive webinars. Please join our mailing list for event notifications and other updates. You can also contact us about your favorite conference or to request a webinar topic or speaker.
Many of the lessons use linked videos or websites which can be accessed by students and viewed individually. Since all the student handouts are provided as Google docs, they can easily be shared electronically with students. Also, many activities involve discussion or cooperative group work that can be adapted for use in the “breakout rooms” of online classrooms.
Some Christians fear that secular books represent a slippery slope to worldliness. Research seems to show this slippery slope fear is unfounded when faith integration is paired with a secular textbook. It is true that secular sources are sometimes biased against religion (just as Christian sources are sometimes biased or misinformed). We encourage teachers to help students recognize instances of secular bias and respond from a Christian perspective.
The science presented in standard secular textbooks is reasonably reliable and accurate; there is not a unique Christian version of scientific facts. But as Christians, the questions, motivations, virtues, and goals we bring to the pursuit of scientific truth and the application of scientific knowledge should be informed by Scripture and reflect our Christian character, values, and beliefs.
Integrate equips educators to use the basic scientific facts presented in secular resources as a jumping off point for considering the deep questions, ethical debates, and possible Christian responses to scientific facts. We invite students to “explore biology from a Christian worldview.” Developing this orientation in students is what helps them build an identity as Christians, Christian students of science, and potentially the Christian scientists of the future.
Encourage parents to read the BioLogos beliefs statement to see what common ground we share. Parents can also be made aware that the perspective on faith and science presented in Integrate is endorsed by the vast majority of Christian college biology departments. It is important that students understand the evidence for evolution or climate change, even if they do not ultimately accept it. Many parents would prefer to have their student think through these issues while they are still living at home and they have more opportunities to discuss what is being taught. Parents can be assured that students will not be required to accept evolutionary creation as the only right answer, and they will have space to express their beliefs, even if they are not in line with the BioLogos perspective. Finally, Integrate includes many units that don’t deal at all with evolution—you can emphasize the many non-controversial areas it covers.
We highly recommend transparency and clarity when it comes to communicating with parents or others in your community about sensitive or potentially controversial topics. Teachers, consider adapting our sample letter from teachers to parents. Administrators, consider adapting our sample letter from administrators to staff or parents. Our science and faith survey may be adapted and used by teachers or administrators with parents or staff.
We offer webinars, regional training events, and virtual or on-site professional development trainings. Please contact us to discuss your needs.
If you are interested in having an Integrate team member lead a professional development workshop at your school, or if you’d like to invite a BioLogos speaker for another event, please contact us. You may also be interested in perusing our upcoming events as there may already be one scheduled in your area.
The initial development of Integrate was funded by grants and donations. Additional funds are needed to maintain Integrate and support our staff and operations as we continue to develop new programs and resources.