Calvin Set To Launch New Institute

September 10, 2004 == MEDIA ADVISORY

Since 1876 Calvin College has been pondering what it means to teach and learn
and think in a Christian way.

Now, a new institute at the college will provide a focal point for such
pondering.

The Kuyers Institute for Christian Teaching and Learning will be formally
launched on Thursday, September 16 at 7:30 pm when David Smith, the institute's
first director, speaks on "What is Excellent Teaching? The Question of Faith
and Pedagogy." That talk is free and open to all and will be held in the
Prince Conference Center at Calvin.

Endowment funding for the institute came from Milt and Carol Kuyers, both 1956
graduates of the college (Milt Kuyers also currently serves as the chair of the
Calvin Board of Trustees).

Smith says the question of teaching and learning as Christians is becoming a
worldwide concern in the new millennium.

"All over the world," he says, "there are Christian schools springing up. But
while you can put up the bricks and the mortar, and get the kids into the
classroom to learn, the question remains how do you make this a thoroughly
Christian school?"

Smith's goal for the Kuyers Institute is to have it become a center for asking
and examining those difficult questions.

"People are looking for models of fruitful teaching and learning." he says.
"We want this (institute) to be a place where those models can be found and
where the discussions are taking place."

Calvin provost Joel Carpenter believes Calvin's reputation around the world as
a place where faith and learning are seamlessly integrated will draw people to
the Kuyers Institute.

"Not a month goes by," he says, "that I don't get a call from Christian
leaders in Russia, Kenya, Costa Rica, saying, 'Can we talk? How can you help us
get stronger about this?'"

The Kuyers Institute will fund research, seminars, publications and internet
resources on issues of pedagogy. A key project, due for launch this winter, is
www.pedagogy.net, an online source for articles, audio recordings of
lectures, surveys, curriculum resources, e-books and book reviews about
Christian teaching and learning.

Through the Web site, Smith says, Calvin can invite a global audience of
Christian educators into the conversations on pedagogy, people such as the
Ukrainian teachers he knows who earn $15 a month.

"Those people are never going to be able to buy our books," he says, "unless
there's a radical transformation in their economy. Translating resources
electronically is one way to get them to such people for free."

A reading group located at both Calvin and Point Loma Nazarene University in
California, is another Kuyers Institute research project. The reading group,
co-sponsored by the Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship (CCCS), will study
how students' faith affects their interpretation of texts.

Faculty discussion groups, summer seminars for high school teachers and
overseas lectures are some other ways the institute will pursue its study of
pedagogy.

Prior to coming to Calvin in 2000, Smith ran the Stapleford Center in
Nottingham, England, working on teacher education and curriculum development.
He joined Calvin as a professor of German and soon after his arrival worked
with Calvin professor Barbara Carvill on a book about foreign language
instruction called The Gift of the Stranger: Faith, Hospitality and Foreign
Language Learning. He also is the editor of the British-based Journal of
Education and Christian Belief.

Contact David Smith at 616-526-8609 or dsmith@calvin.edu

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Received on Fri Sep 10 11:22:09 2004