Dan Beerens

This workshop, led by Institute director David Smith with guest speaker Dan Beerens (Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Holland Christian Schools), will begin with three days of discussion focused on the recent volume by Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. This book reports the findings of the National Survey of Youth and Religion, based on a nationwide telephone survey and extensive face-to-face interviews. The three days will focus on the educational implications of the National Survey of Youth and Religion, particularly in relation to the faith development of students. The workshop will be open to education faculty and K–12 teachers and administrators. The remaining two days of the workshop will consist of participation in the conference "Googling Youth in Troubled Times: A Conference for Those Working with Youth amid the Culture Wars"; workshop participants will be registered for the conference automatically. An application is available here (Adobe Acrobat format). Enrollment in the workshop is limited.

Required textbooks for this workshop are

• Christopher Smith and Melinda Denton, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. Oxford UP, 2005
• Walt Mueller, Engaging the Soul of Youth Culture: Bridging Teen Worldviews and Christian Truth. InterVarsity Press, 2006
• Chap Clark, Hurt: Inside the World of Today's Teenagers. Baker Books, 2005

The Calvin graduate studies program is assisting with this summer workshop by offering two credit hours to interested participants. More information can be found at their webpage.