Seeing God Through STEM

PREFACE As a high school science teacher in a Christian school for many years I tried to integrate faith and learning in as many scientific concepts as possible. I was inspired by my physics teacher Miss Ester Manalaysay, whom we affectionately called Miss Man. Miss Man also happened to be my dad’s physics teacher. Miss Man was a quintessential science teacher. Her hair was meticulously arranged in a bun behind her head, her spectacles resting comfortably on her nose. Although her class was one of the few classes I did not get an A on, which bothered me quite a bit, I was really impressed by her spiritual lesson for every law in physics. I wrote down every spiritual lesson on my notebook, but after several moves, one across the Pacific Ocean and three more in North America, that precious notebook got lost in transition. My father was also an early inspiration. He was never my teacher in the classroom, but he taught me by example. I remember trips to shallow tide pools where we would observe the colorful fish, sea stars, sea anemones, jellyfish, and other marine creatures. We were never allowed to take them out of their natural environment. I remember days when we would be catching insects with nets and with our hands for one of his school projects. I remember walks on the beach and Saturday afternoon nature walks. In 2013-2014 I served as an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow at the National Science Foundation. There I learned more about STEM: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. After that fellowship year, I started to teach STEM classes and started a STEM program at my school. The idea of integrating STEM with spiritual things in worship talks came during the lowest point of my life when I was diagnosed with sarcoma on my leg. After undergoing two surgeries to remove the tumors and several sessions of proton radiation therapy, I am now free of the disease, thanks to God’s marvelous healing power and the prayers of so many loved ones, colleagues, and friends. During this difficult time, God gave me the idea of preparing and presenting STEM worships to students and to write a book when I had more time to do so. For the last three years, I have been giving STEM-focused worship talks to students in several states and in the Philippines. I retired in June 2022, giving me some time to write in between trips to faraway places with my husband. I firmly believe that STEM helps us to appreciate and understand God’s Creation more. It is my desire that these short devotionals, which integrate faith and learning with STEM, will draw students closer to our Creator, who is the ultimate source of wisdom.