Redesigning Islam instruction to counter media stereotypes and misunderstandings

Redesigned World Religion Lesson Plan -- Understanding Islam

21st Century Skills & Standards

The study of world religions is an enormous, seemingly unmanageable undertaking for some students. Indeed at some point the learner certainly needs to understand the various approaches to the dogma practiced by the world's religions -- ignorance of global faiths and religious beliefs is unacceptable for today's well-educated student -- but taking an initial small bite out of this enormous religion-themed project (and chewing it thoroughly for proper digestion) is the aim of this modification. The ISTE-S changes in this plan transition the learner from the role of technology to number 4, "a" -- critical thinking and problem solving.

Modification

Rather than a broad examination into all faiths, this revised plan focuses only on Islam from an objective Western perspective. Due to the never-ending violence that student learners may witness on television and in electronic media -- including the horrific beheadings and mass slaughter conducted by the so-called "Islamic State" in Iraq and Syria, and the terrorist-led suicide bombing and kidnapping of young women by Boko Haram Islamists in Nigeria -- it is quite easy to imagine how learners may form misunderstandings about what Islam stands for. In this modified version of the original lesson plan, the first component is presented in order to align the lesson plan with #4 "a" from the International Society for Technology (ISTE-S) in Education (using critical thinking skills and problem solving skills to define authentic problems and important questions for investigation). The problem to be solved is how to use new skills in order to focus objectively on the substance of the Islamic Faith and eschew media images of fanatics and terrorists that have distorted Islam for their own violent ends. Important questions include a review of what the Qur'an actually says about jihad and how believers should behave. The Critical Thinking and Problem Solving component in the Framework for 21st Century Learning calls upon learners to make judgments and decisions only after a full grasp of how to analyze, evaluate, and to reflect critically on the difference between information and arguments to the contrary. The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) that apply in this modified plan are embraced so that students will understand materials grounded in evidence from texts and scholarly research; to wit, the learner should be able to answer text-dependent questions from peer-reviewed, scholarly materials.

Reflection

This was not a difficult modification, albeit the focus shifted from an examination of the customs and cultures that are reflected in a variety of world religions. The switch from the use of technology-centric investigations (including learning some Sanskrit and some Hindu terms) to a far more focused, critical-thinking-style examination of one religion (Islam) -- and how that religion has been embraced for jihadist purposes -- has been produced with pragmatic modifications. Among the narrower think-outside-the-box focuses in the modified version is a key concept in any research on contemporary Islam: simply saying that Islam is a peaceful religion that has been kidnapped by militant extremists is misleading -- and students will be required to delve into why that statement is not accurate (Sachedina, 2010).

Conclusion

The modification of this lesson plan in no way lessens the importance of understanding the world's religions -- and how cultures observe and practice their faith. However, by modifying the plan so that it asks the student to take just a bite -- rather than the whole apple -- that more focused approach should lead to a more circumspect understanding of Islam. One at a time should be the moral of the story in this context; the next religion to be focused on could be Judaism, for example, and the history of struggles Jews have gone through.