THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 3, 1995 TAG: 9503020161
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 15 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY GARY EDWARDS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
The Martin sisters, Cassie, 8, and Sherri Lynn, 7, raised their arms, pointed their index fingers, touched them together and stared at them.
They then separated them an inch and looked directly above them.
``Oh, my gosh, I see it,'' cried Cassie.
``Me, too,'' her younger sister said, eyes widening.
What the home-schooled sisters saw is what you'll see if you perform the exercise: parallactic displacement, though the girls - or very few others - would use that term.
What the Martin sisters saw was what appears to be a finger joint suspended between the two index fingers.
Fred Willson used parallactic displacement and other scientific experiments to show the Martins and several more kindergarten through sixth-grade students that ``everything exists for a purpose in God's universe.''
Willson works as field director for the Good Science Workshops. The retired science teacher travels the country under the auspices of the Institute for Creation Science in La Jolla, Calif. He spent a recent week at Kempsville Church of Christ demonstrating that science and religion are not only compatible, but inextricably linked.
Using slide shows and hands-on experiments like the above, Willson demonstrated to parents, teachers and students ``the overwhelming evidence that God has created an orderly universe.''
The universe exists, in Willson's words, ``within a framework of laws that teach about him.''
The slender, gray-haired scientist had the children and adults stand and flap their arms at their sides. They counted the flaps for 10 seconds.
``How many times did you flap your arms in 10 seconds?'' he asked.
Sherri Lynn counted 20; her sister, 30; their mother, Diane, 41 times.
``You're never going to get off the ground like that,'' Willson said. ``A chickadee flaps its wings 220 times a minute. A hummingbird can flap its wings 700 times in 60 seconds.''
Diane Martin teaches her children at home. She was impressed with the Good Science Workshops held at the church.
``They've learned quite a bit today. He has an engaging way of teaching these concepts,'' she said. ``It's been very beneficial for them. And for me, too.''
Willson showed the crowd how a seed turns to the light and why its roots burrow in the soil.
They placed a wild oat seed on a jar lid and heated it with a candle. They watched as it turned from side to side toward the heat and eventually popped.
Using Psalms 68:2, ``As wax melts before the fire,'' Willson showed solid, liquid and gases change, explaining they are not destroyed, only converted. ``As the wax burns, what is that running down the side?'' Willson asked.
``Liquid,'' several students answered.
``How do we know that gases are produced?''
Smell, said a few. The wiggly lines in the air over the flame, said another.
Willson smiled and congratulated the young students on their observations.
``Remember, God can change solids into liquids and into gases,'' Willson said. ``The only thing God can't change is a hard human heart.''
KEYWORDS: HOME SCHOOL by CNB