Alternate Activity 2: UU Source Constellation - Reason and Science
Part of Love Will Guide Us, Grades 2-3
Activity time: 10 minutes
Materials for Activity
- Handout 2, UU Source Constellation - Reason and Science
- Leader Resource 1, UU Source Constellation Answer Sheet - Reason and Science
- Night Sky display and push pins, tape, or sticky tack (Session 1, Opening)
- Gold and silver star stickers
- Pencils
Preparation for Activity
- Review this activity. Plan how to incorporate it into the session Opening.
- Purchase gold and silver star stickers.
- Print out Handout 2, UU Source Constellation - Reason and Science, for all participants plus one extra.
- Print out Leader Resource 1, UU Source Constellation Answer Sheet - Reason and Science.
- Using Leader Resource 1 as a guide, use star stickers to mark the infinity symbol constellation on one copy of the handout: Place gold star stickers on the outlined stars and silver star stickers on the solid stars. Do not connect the gold stars. Post the constellation on the Night Sky along with the Big Dipper and North Star.
Description of Activity
Tell participants:
Our Sources are the way we are guided as Unitarian Universalists to help us live our faith.
Ask participants if they remember (or know) what a "source" is. Allow a moment for responses. Then, explain that the definition of source you are looking for has to do with origin, or beginning.
Say in your own words:
Today we are talking about the "the use of science and reason to determine who we are and where we came from." This is our fifth UU Source.
Who knows about Charles Darwin? Did you know he was a Universalist? He is the person who first described what he called "natural selection." The facts he discovered about nature helped him think of his theory of evolution. Has anyone here talked about evolution at school?
Allow children to share the relevant information they know. Then, distribute the UU Source Constellation handout. Say:
We think it's important to learn from science. We use our minds to reason as we learn about our world. So, we have a constellation named in honor of this Source. It's shaped like an infinity sign, a symbol used in science. The infinity sign looks like a number eight turned on its side. Can you find it in our Night Sky?
Give them time to look for the infinity symbol. As children find it, let them show it to you by tracing the infinity shape with their finger on their own handout.
Distribute gold and silver stars. Have children stick gold stars on the outlined stars and silver stars on the solid stars on their handouts. Then, invite them to pencil the infinity symbol by connecting the gold stars. Tell them they make take their own Reason and Science constellations home.
Say, in your own words:
As Unitarian Universalists, we learn from reason and science.
Light the chalice.