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Teaching the Bible
MOSES:
CROSSING THE RED SEA
Teacher Notes
Appropriate use in the classroom
- This narrative is likely to be familiar to most pupils, certainly older ones. However, it raises important educational issues regarding pupils' religious understanding because it is very ancient biblical material which incorporates early and undeveloped religious beliefs.
- The danger is that unless pupils have the opportunity to investigate the inherent beliefs in the material, they may well be left with an under-developed and misleading understanding of the nature of God which they will carry forward with them. This could fuel a negative attitude to the Bible and religion, later on. If pupils are to be presented with these complex textual passages, then the teacher must support the text with an appropriate contextual base.
- If this narrative is being introduced to pupils for the first time, then much care must be taken in handling it. If pupils have encountered it before, then it can be revisited and reassessed by pupils with appropriate teacher guidance, but check what the pupils already know.
- This narrative presents several fascinating topics but the key challenges to be addressed are in the concept of God in relation to war and his 'miraculous' intervention. Make sure these are not overlooked in favour of the 'easier' ones e.g. exploring the characters of the various players.
- Pupils will be familiar with the concepts of escape, danger, fear, cowardice, trust and war which all appear in this narrative. So it is not so removed from their experience as it might at first appear.
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