UKS2 Topic: Early Islamic Civilisation Block H: Important Places

Session 2 City research
National Curriculum / History: Develop a chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of world history, establishing clear narratives within and across the periods they study. They should regularly address and sometimes devise historically valid questions about change, cause, similarity and difference, and significance. Undertake an in-depth study of a non-European society that provides contrasts with British history- early Islamic civilisation.
Geography: Locate the world’s countries using maps, concentrating on their environmental regions, key physical and human characteristics, countries, and major cities. Present human and physical features using a range of methods, including sketch maps, plans and graphs, and digital technologies.
Teaching Objectives / To explore the history of one Islamic city in greater depth
To find out about the physical and human geography of an Islamic city
Resources
Blank city maps; City source packs; Atlases or online mapping applications; Children’s timelines from the first session. / Weblinks
http://www.islamiclandmarks.com/ - Website about important places in the Islamic world; http://www.istanbultrails.com/2008/01/istanbul-pas-constantinople-timeline-and-brief-overview/ - Timeline of Istanbul's history; http://www.worldlibrary.org/articles/eng/timeline_of_damascus_history - Timeline of Damascus' history; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Mecca Timeline of Mecca's history - Timeline of Mecca history; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Medina Timeline of Medina's history - Timeline of Medina’s history; http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/jerutime.html - Timeline of Jerusalem's history; https://www.britannica.com/place/Karbala#ref891295 - Article about Karbala with some dates in it.
Whole class: Print out one copy of each source pack for each group before the session
Create groups to research one of the cities from the previous session in more depth. There will have been more than one pair researching a city's founding date in the previous session, so group them together to work as a team.
Tell chn that there is a blank map of their city in their source packs and they need to draw buildings and other features on the map when they find them in their source packs. Model how to do this.
The other thing they should be looking out for are dates of when things happened in the city, or when buildings were built and the team should note these dates on one of the timelines they had in the previous session.
Give out the relevant source pack to each team. Get them to spread everything out and become familiar with what each source is, then ask them to work in pairs or individually with one source to find out what they can from it – does it have dates in that they can put on the timeline or does it show features of the city that they can draw on the map? Make sure chn have access to a tablet or laptop so they can also do research online or check where to put things on their maps. Give them about half an hour to work through the sources.
Ask chn to stop researching once half an hour is up and to talk in their groups about the information they have found out so the whole team knows about the city and ask two people in each group to make sure that all the dates mentioned are on the timeline and all the places in the city are recorded on the map.
Medium/ Hard
More able chn could also look at the links online above to do further research that is not included in the source packs. / Easy
Some chn may need adult support to help them access the information in the sources, and further modelling about how to transfer that information to the timeline and map.
Plenary / Praise chn for the research they have done, and tell them that they will be making maps of their city and presenting them to the rest of the class in the next session.
Outcomes / Children will:
·  Research the history of an Islamic city
·  Record their research on a timeline
·  Become familiar with the layout of an Islamic city and transcribe features onto a map

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