History at key stage 3 (Year 7)
Unit 6: What were the achievements of the Islamic states 600-1600?
Section 2: How did the world of the Middle East change during the life of the Prophet Muhammad
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Objectives |
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- how an Islamic empire rapidly established itself during the seventh century
- about some of the weaknesses of the enemies of Islam: the Byzantine and Persian empires
- to identify and communicate characteristics of a successful leader
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Activities |
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Outcomes |
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Children: |
- Describe the dramatic spread of Islam during the lifetimes of the Prophet and the first four caliphs.
- Pupils plot the expansion of Islam on maps. Ask pupils to use textbooks and other resources to find as many reasons as they can to explain the success of the armies of Islam and the failure of the Persian and Byzantine empires to withstand Arab conquerors.
- Show the strengths of Islam and the weaknesses of the old empires in diagrammatic form.
- Focus on a particular early caliph such as Umar (634-644) and consider his career.
- Tell pupils about the effective use of spies in the Islamic empire.
How might a Byzantine spy, who has visited the court of the caliph at Medina, explain why Umar was a particularly successful leader? Pupils write a report to the Byzantine emperor, Heraclus (610-641), describing distinctive features of Umar's rule, explaining how they helped him to control a huge new empire and suggesting ways in which this could be undermined.
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- identify and explain some of the reasons for the rapid spread of Islam in the seventh century
- explain the significance of key individuals such as the caliph Umar in the development of the Islamic empire
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Points to note |
- From a Muslim perspective, one answer to this question may be a religious one: that the spread of Islam was a consequence of divine intervention in human affairs. Teachers may wish to discuss this with pupils, but it should be made clear that in the study of history we confine ourselves to looking at purely historical factors.
- The focus of the written task is on explanation, not narrative. Teachers will need to consider ways of helping pupils organise their ideas and structure the writing,
eg through a card-sorting activity, use of a writing frame and/or guidance on connectives.
- ICT: use of a computer presentation package would encourage pupils to focus on explanation rather than narrative.
- Language for learning: pupils could spot connections and links between how information is presented in different forms.
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This unit is divided into sections. Each section contains a sequence of
activities with related objectives and outcomes. You can view this unit by
moving through the sections or print/download the whole unit.
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