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Devotional Biology Homeschool Curriculum
- Age: 14+
- 1 Full Credit
Designed to fully integrate the biological sciences with a Christian worldview, Dr. Kurt Wise starts with our understanding of who God is, then shows how God created the living world to reflect His unique attributes in His creation. He explains a fascinating array of subjects from a creationist perspective, including the nature of life, Biblical kinds, biosystems, biodiversity, cell theory, the history of life, and much, much more.
Description
Devotional Biology is an amazing opportunity to learn high school biology from one of the top creation scientists in the world. Dr. Kurt Wise designed this unique class to fully integrate a Christian worldview with the biological sciences. The result is a completely new way to approach biology.
A few of the unique aspects include:
- Provides a thoroughly Christian view of science, building from basic principles to a complete view of life sciences.
- Shows how concepts such as “created kinds,” “divine beauty,” and “Biblical stewardship” are essential parts of biology.
- Prepares students to understand how God’s creation is uniquely designed to support all the complexities of life.
The class includes:
- 67 in-depth video lectures (28 hours total)
- Textbook (Hardcover or PDF) – Click the Sample Textbook tab on this page for more information
- Lab Manual (PDF or printed)
- Teacher’s Guide – includes test and lab manual answers. (PDF or printed paperback)
- 13 Lab Instructional Videos
Credit: One high school lab science.
DVDs are no longer available for this product. Read more about our USB products.
Dr. Wise earned his BA in geology from the University of Chicago, and his MA and PhD degrees in paleontology from Harvard University. He founded and directed the Center for Origins Research at Bryan College and taught biology there for 17 years. He then led the Center for Theology and Science at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary for 3 years, before founding and directing the Center for Creation Research and teaching biology at Truett McConnell University for the last 7 years. His fieldwork has included research in early Flood rocks in the Death Valley region, late Flood rocks in Wyoming, and post-Flood caves in Tennessee.
License: This product is licensed for use by one family. For group, co-op, or school use, each family will need to purchase a copy or purchase licenses for each student. For more information, visit our group license page.
Additional information
| Age | 15+ |
|---|---|
| Age/Grade | |
| Credit | 1 HS Science with Lab |
| Credit Amount | |
| Lessons | 15 Chapters / 67 Lectures / 15 Labs |
| Lesson Length | about 20 minutes |
| Teacher | Kurt Wise, PhD |
| Format | Digital, USB Thumb Drive |
| Runtime | 28 Hours, 16 Mins |
| Addl Mtls | 534p Textbook, 124p Lab Manual, 88p Teacher's Guide (PDF or Physical Books) |
| Type |
Lessons
For Teachers/Parents – How to Teach This Class (13:11)
Preface (4:29)
0.1 Contrasting Two Worldviews (28:49)
0.2 Four Other Contrasts(13:11)
Section 1. Biology for the Believer
1.1 God Desires to be Known (25:15)
1.2 The Christian Foundation of Science (28:06)
1.3 The Difficulty of Defining Science (36:32)
1.4 Defining Science & Biology (25:05)
1.5 Our Priestly Responsibilities (24:03)
1.6 Our Image and Ministry Responsibilities (17:36)
Section 2. The Living God: Biological Life
2.1 Divine through Animal Life (18:25)
2.2 Are Plants Alive? (17:25)
2.3 The Spectrum of Perfection of Life (13:35)
2.4 The Nature of Life (15:15)
2.5 Origin of Life (28:13)
2.6 Our Responsibility (26:43)
Section 3. God’s Glory: Biological Beauty
3.1 Beauty of God (17:52)
3.2 Biology Beauty (32:44)
Section 4. God is Distinct: Biological Discontinuity
4.1 The Biblical Kind (12:24)
4.2 Baraminology (22:30)
4.3 The Spectrum of Discontinuity (17:16)
4.4 The Origin of Discontinuity (28:23)
Section 5. God is Good: Mutualism & Biological Evil
5.1 Mutualism (27:46)
5.2 The Curse I (21:09)
5.3 Biological Evil (23:32)
5.4 Our Responsibility to Bio-Good & Bio-Evil (25:50)
Section 6. God is Person: Animal Behavior & Personality
6.1 God is Person, Biological Uniqueness & Activity (31:49)
6.2 Biological Activity II (32:15)
6.3 Instinctive & Learned Behavior (34:35)
6.4 Animal Intelligence (26:15)
6.5 Animal Will (27:01)
6.6 Animal Personality (35:22)
6.7 The Origin of & Responsibility to Personhood (22:39)
Section 7. The Provider God: The Anthropic Principle
7.1 The Anthropic Principle & the Earth (25:17)
7.2 The Anthropic Principle & the Solar System (25:44)
7.3 The Anthropic Principle & Atoms (29:13)
7.4 The Anthropic Principle & Molecules (37:38)
7.5 The AP: Origins and Responsibilities (24:10)
Section 8. The Sustaining God – The Biomatrix
8.1 The Biomatrix (24:01)
8.2 Biogeochemical Cycles (20:21)
8.3 Kingly Responsibilities (28:01)
Section 9. God is One: Monomers, Biosimilarity, and Biosystems
9.1 Common Monomers (29:53)
9.2 Similarities & Systems (22:30)
9.3 Our Responsibility to Biological Unity (17:30)
Section 10. God is Three: Biodiversity
10.1 Climatic Variety (13:52)
10.2 Land Biome Variety (14:23)
10.3 Water Biome Variety (15:45)
10.4 Biodiversity (20:42)
10.5 Our Responsibility to Biodiversity (16:59)
Section 11. God of Hierarchy: Netted Biological Hierarchy
11.1 Unified Hierarchy (11:13)
11.2 Cell Theory (27:00)
11.3 Universal Cell Parts (26:04)
11.4 Higher Organizational Bio-Hierarchy (15:37)
11.5 Nested Hierarchy (28:21)
Section 12. The Almighty God: Metabolism
12.1 Types of Metabolism (10:27)
12.2 Photosynthesis I (35:26)
12.3 Photosynthesis II (25:41)
Section 13. God the Word: Animal Communication & Language of Life
13.1 Animal Communication (15:59)
13.2 Myth of DNA & DNA for Storage (23:01)
13.3 DNA as the Language of Life (32:19)
Section 14. God’s Fullness: Reproduction, Diversification, and Biogeography
14.1 Mitosis (25:37)
14.2 Meiosis & Non-Physical Reproduction (25:31)
14.3 Diversification (27:59)
14.4 Biogeography & Responsibility (27:31)
Section 15: The History of Life
15.1 Biblical Chronology (26:26)
15.2 The Creation Week (18:04)
15.3 The Edenian & Antediluvian Worlds (21:02)
15.4 The Flood & Arphaxadian Epoch (26:37)
Sample Lessons
Introduction: How This Course is Unique
How to Teach This Class: A Note to Teachers
Lesson 1.4: Why Study Biology?
Sample Books
Key features of the textbook:
- Layout designed for easy reading and notetaking reading.
- Chapter subtitles enable curriculum planning.
- Beautiful—approximately 45% of the book has high-resolution images and diagrams.
- Vocabulary callouts in the margins, linked to the Glossary.
- PDF is linked all over: Table of Contents to chapters, margin vocabulary to Glossary, and Index to everything!
Resources
How to Teach Devotional Biology: Don’t know where to begin with this product (or need a refresher)? Try our brief jumpstart guide to see how all the pieces fit together.
Devotional Biology: Additional links, videos, and games you can use to supplement the curriculum. Best of all, they’re free!
FAQs
Does the streaming service expire?
No. This is a purchase in perpetuity.
Are there any course corrections?
View an updated list of corrections for Devotional Biology.
What size are the downloads?
There are four for download, ranging from smaller to larger. Actual file sizes depend on your choice of quality. At the lowest end, it is a 100MB per file average; at the highest end it is 1GB per file, average.
How long are the videos?
They range in length from 12 minutes to 35 minutes. The average length is 20 minutes.
Where do the lab materials come from?
The lab materials can be purchased here, and will be fulfilled by Cornerstone educational supply. There are also videos that explain how each lab is to be done.
How much time is needed for the Labs?
All the laboratory exercises that would conventionally be done in a school laboratory are designed to be done by the students in less than 2 hours. The set up for some of them might add some time and some might need to be designed making efficient use of the time (but that is for the person putting the lab together, not the students. The labs that might take longer for the students (such as designing an identification key for plants at a nursery or designing a biogeochemical cycle presentation) should take less than 2 hours in ‘the lab’ (e.g., at the nursery or collecting research data), but might require some additional time on the part of the students outside of lab (or, in the worst case scenario, more than one trip to the nursery). There should be no problem arranging for the longest labs to be done over more than one lab period. In short, 1-2 hours should be adequate for the labs in this course.
Does the book come with daily lesson plans?
Yes, there is a scope and sequence that is included with a structure for the course.
Are there tests with this material?
Yes, there are potential test questions that are included in the book. They consist of short answers and essays. The answers are all included in the teacher’s guide.
17 reviews for Devotional Biology Homeschool Curriculum
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Rebekah –
This biology course goes so far beyond what I expected in a high school biology course, and I already own some excellent high school biology textbooks produced by other stellar biologists.
We are blown away.
I am teaching five students and they get excited when it’s time for biology. I do too. Never have I been excited about science of any kind.
My oldest son, who got a 35 on the ACT and studies this stuff for fun, was listening in, amazed to learn concepts he had never heard before.
As for me, this is why I homeschool. I love getting a second chance to learn things I missed.
In this case, I think the world missed it. May God use Devotional Biology as a wake up to stir us all to greater worship, enhanced awe, and a renaissance of wise stewardship. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! God bless.
Jennifer G –
My older daughter completed Devotional Biology as a freshman. She graduates next month. She has repeatedly said that it is the best course she has ever taken.
Amanda S –
Excellent content. Very high level, challenging, thought provoking and Christ centered. Teachers guide, especially tests, could use some tweaking to make them more useable, including a guide for recommended grading on the course.
Angela D –
Love it! Science from a Godly, creationist perspective has been so incredibly valuable.
Connie M –
Love, love, love this curriculum. I love Dr Wise’s approach to the subject and his enthusiasm is contagious. All 3 of my high schoolers love this curriculum (even my oldest who up until this year said he hated Biology) and my husband and I like to linger around and listen too, when we get the opportunity. Dr. Wise’s approach to this subject has planted in them a lifetime desire to get to know their Creator more and more through His Word and through His creation. This is exactly why I homeschool!!! I cannot say enough about how much of a blessing this curriculum has been to our family.
Jennifer G –
My daughter used this two years ago. To this day she will say this is the best program she has ever completed. She often brings up something she learned from the lessons that year.
Lorie S –
Devotional Biology is a beautiful blend of Science and Theology.
Maria –
My son has been using it for over a week, and he looks forward to biology, rather than experiencing stress. He pauses as he reads the textbook and tells me the interesting things he is reading, and we discuss them. He understands that the goal of studying biology is to understand and worship our Creator. What a difference it has made. After struggling all year with biology, we both look forward to continuing to study it this summer using this excellent curriculum.
Theresa –
exactly what I’ve been wanting for my kids. Showing that God, who is the creator, wants to be with us. And He shows His attributes through creation/science. Nothing is unconnected to our God.
I purchased this even though my kids are not in HS. We’re watching it as a family and will enjoy this again and again…
Alice –
Finally, a biology curriculum that teaches students to look first at the aspects of the Creator of life in order to better understand the organisms He has created.
Dr. Wise presents the lessons clearly and in in depth, with material that shows how actual science supports the Biblical creation account. Students are also encouraged to see themselves as stewards of this creation.
The corresponding lab manual gives students hands-on experience and eyes-on witness to the wonderfully complex intentional creation our Lord has provided to us.
Maria –
My son has been using it for over a week, and he looks forward to biology, rather than experiencing stress. He pauses as he reads the textbook and tells me the interesting things he is reading, and we discuss them. He understands that the goal of studying biology is to understand and worship our Creator. What a difference it has made. After struggling all year with biology, we both look forward to continuing to study it this summer using this excellent curriculum.
Cheryl F –
We are loving this course! What a great way to structure the content after God’s attributes he reveals to us through creation. Dr. Wise takes a “wholeness” approach to studying biology. We don’t kill the rabbit to discover “rabbitness”. What makes a rabbit different than a deer or a cat? Or a human being? Yes, we could see sameness and difference in dissecting, but we would be missing LIFE. What living differences do we see? How are we in creation together? This is a BEAUTIFUL and GOD HONORING Course. Thank you!!
Amy Bolick –
We’ve enjoyed the curriculum so far. I love the inclusion of worldview topics.
I do wish there was a list of the lengths for each of the videos at least a text file. We don’t have a set time we watch so I’d like to know if the next one is a 12 minute one or a 20+ minute one.
Cheryl Floyd –
We are loving this course! What a great way to structure the content after God’s attributes he reveals to us through creation. Dr. Wise takes a “wholeness” approach to studying biology. We don’t kill the rabbit to discover “rabbitness”. What makes a rabbit different than a deer or a cat? Or a human being? Yes, we could see sameness and difference in dissecting, but we would be missing LIFE. What living differences do we see? How are we in creation together? This is a BEAUTIFUL and GOD HONORING Course. Thank you!!
Alice (verified owner) –
Finally, a biology curriculum that teaches students to look first at the aspects of the Creator of life in order to better understand the organisms He has created.
Dr. Wise presents the lessons clearly and in in depth, with material that shows how actual science supports the Biblical creation account. Students are also encouraged to see themselves as stewards of this creation.
The corresponding lab manual gives students hands-on experience and eyes-on witness to the wonderfully complex intentional creation our Lord has provided to us.
theresa (verified owner) –
exactly what I’ve been wanting for my kids. Showing that God, who is the creator, wants to be with us. And He shows His attributes through creation/science. Nothing is unconnected to our God.
I purchased this even though my kids are not in HS. We’re watching it as a family and will enjoy this again and again…
Mike –
Dr. Wise , again, explains technical information in a way that clarifies and shows the amazing design features God has put into His creation. This is exciting in that it gives evidence to combat evolution, and to strengthen our faith.