Learning Engagement 1:

Learning Objective: 

• To understand what is meant by navigation and identify the navigation tools used today. 
• To identify and investigate the Al Deira Compass at the National Museum of Qatar. 

Introduction Activity:

Visible Thinking Routine: Connect-Extend-Challenge

Students will use the Connect-Extend-Challenge visible routine to help them understand what is meant by navigation, connecting it to the real-world and extending their knowledge to the purpose and uses of navigation and challenging them beyond.

Connect – Ask students to come up with definitions of navigation in pairs or in small groups. Then come together as a class to share and agree on a class definition for navigation. Ask students what navigation tools they are familiar with that help us to navigate our way around Qatar, and how they are beneficial.

Extend – Ask students to think and come up with a list of navigation tools that are used globally and what they are used for.

Challenge – Ask students to list any challenges or puzzles that emerge for them about navigation tools.

Example of a definition for navigation: the art and science of maneuvering safely and efficiently from one place to another. 

The process or activity of accurately ascertaining one’s position and planning and following a route (Oxford Dictionary).

Student-Friendly Questions:

• What navigation tools do you or your family use the most?
• What is the navigation tool used for and how does it help?
• What if the navigation tool didn’t exist? Would this have a negative impact on our lives? Explain your answer.
• Do you think it is difficult to create navigation tools? Explain your answer and consider any challenges that might occur in creating them. 
• What does GPS stand for? What does this mean?
• What are the popular GPS navigation apps your family uses?  
• How reliable and accurate are GPS navigation apps?
• If there was a failure in the satellite navigation systems, do you think the GPS app would still work? Explain your answer. 
• What do you think was used to navigate where we are and where we are going before the use of satellites?
• In what way do you think road and air navigation systems differ?

Students can use the following resource to support them with the GPS Navigation questions. They should be informed that there are many different types of navigation systems, and some are more reliable than others and preferable for local use depending on which country you are located in. 

Resource 1: GPS Navigation Apps: https://rasekh.qa/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Resource-1_-GPS-Navigation-Apps.pdf

Learning Engagement 1: Exploration of the Compass Al Deira

Students will be provided with the National Museum of Qatar online resource link available at: https://explorer.nmoq.org.qa/api/en/artefact/?id=aHR0cHM6Ly9xY3BtYWluc3Rvbm1vcWttMDEuYmxvYi5jb3JlLndpbmRvd3MubmV0L3Byb2RxbWRpZ2xpYi9hc3NldHMvRzYvUU5NLjIwMTEuODYxLjEuanBn0&culture=english

Note that students also have the option to access the Al Deira Compass through the Arabic language selection option. Available at: https://explorer.nmoq.org.qa/api/ar/artefact/?id=aHR0cHM6Ly9xY3BtYWluc3Rvbm1vcWttMDEuYmxvYi5jb3JlLndpbmRvd3MubmV0L3Byb2RxbWRpZ2xpYi9hc3NldHMvRzYvUU5NLjIwMTEuODYxLjEuanBn0&culture=arabic

Students will be encouraged to work in small mixed-ability groups to research using the online resource and finding the answers to the following questions:

• Find the Compass Al Deira artifact and explain what it is and what it looks like in your own words?
• What do you think it was used for?
• What was the Compass Al Deira actually used for?
• In which period and dates was the compass used?
• Where was it produced, why do you think that might be?
• Where was the compass found?
• What materials is the compass made of?
• Why do you think these materials were chosen to make the compass?
• What four cardinal directions can you see on the compass? 
• How does the compass needle help us to find the right direction? What is the function of the compass needle?
• How do you think the compass would have benefitted the Pearl-Fishing and Trading Vessel captains navigate? 
• Do you think they would find their way easily? What challenges or obstacles do you think they might have faced?  
• Why could the Pearl-Fishing and Trading Vessel captains not use GPS apps then? 
• What safety aspects need to be taken into consideration when using navigation tools?

Students will explain their answers fully and in as much detail as possible. They will need to record their answers and present it in a clear form to share with other students. They could show their answers in a creative and illustrative way, adding their responses to a PowerPoint presentation, Google Slide Presentation, or Poster, or other creative presentation.  The presentation should be clear, well-organized and creatively presentable with the researched answers citing the online reference used. The students could be encouraged to design their findings as a quiz for other groups to answer, or use the information to create a narrative or speech.

Reflection: 

Each group will present to the other groups and ask any topical or cultural questions they may have for the group or what they still want to know more about. The students assess and evaluate each other’s presentations. 

Learning Engagement 2: Identify the Connection with Magnetism and Navigation and Exploring the Qibla Compass

Learning Objective: To comprehend how magnets work and how this connects to navigation systems.

To analyze and investigate the ‘Qibla’ compass on Islamic Prayer Mats/Mobile Phone Devices

Part 1: How Magnets Work

Students will use their prior knowledge to identify how magnets work.

The teacher will prepare and display the following paragraph on the board with the missing words, and students will fill in the missing blanks as a class activity. Word banks will be provided to support learners. 

See Resource 2. How Magnets Work: https://rasekh.qa/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Resource-2.-How-magnets-work.pdf

Brainstorming activity – connection to navigation

Students will be provided sufficient allocated time to brainstorm in their notebook journals what connections magnetism have with navigation systems. Some guided questions to support them thinking back to the GPS navigation systems – how can data be tracked? What assists apps to navigate roads and locations for us? They can use their laptops to research and then share their responses with the class. How does magnetism connect to compasses? How does the compass needle point to ‘north’?

Part 2: Investigate the Qibla compass and direction

Prior to the lesson, the teacher would organize for students to bring in Islamic Prayer Mats that have Qibla compasses on them.  The students can ask to borrow one from a relative or friend if they do not own one. Not every student needs to bring one to class. For example, two people can share one Qibla compass prayer mat to explore how the Qibla compass helps them find the direction in which Muslims need to face when praying.  In addition to using the Islamic Prayer mat, the teacher or students can invite a parent to explain and demonstrate to the class how a Qibla application, or a compass on a prayer mat can be used to find the direction for Muslims to pray. Alternatively, students could find the Qibla direction by using their digital device application.  The students should investigate and explain how the direction might change in different locations locally or globally.

Part 1: Visible Thinking Routine – “Think-Pair-Share”

Instructions for Teachers:

Explain to students that they will use the “Think-Pair-Share” routine to explore compasses on Islamic Prayer Mats and Mobile Phone Devices. 

Encourage them to think individually, share their thoughts with a partner, and then participate in a class discussion.

Emphasize that it’s a collaborative and reflective process.

Instructions for Students:

Think: Ask students to individually think about what the purpose is of having a compass on an Islamic Prayer Mat. What do they find interesting or significant about it? What questions do they still have? 

Pair: Have students pair up with another student. Encourage them to share their thoughts about their perceptions, knowledge and understanding. They can take turns listening and talking.

Share: As a class open discussion, ask students from each pair to share their responses. Encourage them to express their thoughts, questions, and ideas.

Allow the invited parent, or students to take the mobile phone device with the Qibla finder to find the direction of the Qibla. Then find the direction in  another room or area that is a little further away, and observe if the direction is the same? Invite students to respond to explain their answers. 

Student-Friendly Questions:

• On some Islamic Prayer Mats there is a compass, what is the cultural and Islamic significance of this compass?
• If you go to visit a masjid (mosque), how do the worshippers know in which direction they are praying, what helps them to know?
• What is the direction of the compass for the Qibla for someone praying in Qatar?
• Do you think the direction would change if a muslim was praying for example in Palestine, or in the UK? Would they all be the same or different? Explain your answer.
• What if a Muslim who lives in Al-Wakra, Qatar visited their relative who lives in Al-Rayyan, Qatar, would they need to check the Qibla to make sure they were praying in the right direction? Explain your reasons.
• Do you think that each room in a house would have the same direction of the Qibla, or it might differ slightly? Explain your answer.
• Why does the location of the Qibla change depending on the country or area? 
• If a Muslim prayed in Al Masjid Al-Haram, at the honored  Kaaba in Makkah,  which direction do you think they would need to face? Think about the shape and the area around the Kaaba when answering this question.
• Where was the location of the first Qibla in Islam before Masjid Al-Haram in Saudi Arabia?
• What is the cultural and Islamic relationship between Masjid Al-Aqsa, and Masjid Al-Haram?
• What if Muslims did not have a navigating tool to help them find the Qibla when traveling to different cities or countries?

Alternative or optional observational activity – plan a visit to a local Masjid 

• Do Muslim worshippers have individual prayer mats aligned? Do the worshippers all face in one direction?
• With your compass can you note down the direction they are facing?
• What does this direction navigate to? (Global connection)
• Do you think Muslim worshippers would face differently in another masjid not located nearby or in another location? Consider how the  direction might be different globally.

Learning Engagement 3 – Mapping and Navigation Skills

One of two activities to choose from that works for your class. 

Visit to the NMOQ

The teacher will arrange a visit to the NMOQ for the students to plan and sketch a navigation map for students in Grade 6 (Year 7) or Grade 8 (Year 9) of a chosen gallery area. Students should be encouraged to include as many exhibits as possible in that gallery on their map and include no less than seven items.  The students should be encouraged to indicate the north direction on their map and their map should indicate where the items can be found in relation to each other using the cardinal compass directions. The students can be creative as they wish, but it needs to be clear, and the instructions should be accurate and easy for other students to follow in their grade below or above. 

Scales could be included as a challenge, but it is important to note that measuring any objects would not be possible as they are museum exhibits. The educator could measure from a distance and provide an estimate for students. The teacher will remind the students that we use the scale to minimize the size of larger objects that could not be drawn or sketched on the piece of paper. For example, if the object area is 20 cm by 30 cm. We can add a scale for every 1 cm = 10 cm. So, the object will be drawn on their map as 2 cm by 3 cm. 

As a challenge, students should find in which location and Gallery is the Compass, Al Deira in the NMOQ? 

Alternative activity 

Use the National Museum of Qatar Gallery map online, available at: https://explorer.nmoq.org.qa/en/museum-map/?openGallery=R10 to navigate where the following objects will be found using compass directions. 

Students  design their own navigation instructions, or a map for other students to help them find the objects on the Open Gallery Map online page. For example, they will sketch the map and write Gallery 1 (G1) is East of Gallery 10 (G10). Then mention the gallery 1 title and list some of the exhibits that can be found in that Gallery. 

As a challenge, can students find in which Gallery is the Compass, Al Deira? 

Resources required to assist students: Sketch book, compass, ruler, eraser, pencils; colored pencils.