In Wednesday Sunday School I try to keep the class at a low boil all the time so the kids stay energized. There’s usually an urgency to getting fast answers to questions, and often a child will belt out a wrong answer that’s an excellent answer to a question I haven’t asked. When possible, I will shortly follow a wrong answer with a new question that affirms that wrong answer, like so:
“Somebody remind me what happened fifty days after Easter…the Ascension! No, that’s a good answer, though. C’mon, fifty days after Easter…umm, Pentecost! Yes.”
And we discuss whatever was in the lesson plan about Pentecost. Then:
“Hey, speaking of stuff after Easter, what happened after forty days? Jesus went to Heaven! Yes, which is called? The Ascension! Yes!”
Another example:
“Who told the Israelites that God would let bad stuff happen to the Temple just like Shiloh? Isaiah! No, guess again. Samuel? Nope; this prophet also said to stop worshiping baby-eating false gods. Jeremiah! Yes! And who heard God call him three times? Samuel? There ya go. And who said a virgin would have a baby? Isaiah. Yes.”
I don’t have any empirical evidence (I don’t even have quizzes) but I almost can see the open circuits closing when the kids connect an old wrong answer to a new right question.
