Traders and Explorers in Wooden Ships: Muslims in the Age of Exploration: A Supplementary Social Studies Unit for Fifth Grade This unit is offered to upper elementary students as an introductory chapter to their first comprehensive study of American history. It may also be used as an adjunct to study of the European Age of Exploration in world history courses for upper elementary and middle school grades. It can be used as a supplement to or substitute for the textbook chapter which discusses America's origins in the Old World. It provides background for the period in which Europe reached out across the globe for the first time. This treatment attempts to go beyond the heroism and adventure stories about the Age of Exploration. Most textbook treatments of the period utterly fail to place Europe in the context of its cultural and technological development relative to other civilizations. This unit shows how the Islamic lands formed a hinge between East and West. It investigates the major motivations and development of the technological means for exploration. It goes beyond the stereotyped image of conflict between Christians and Muslims to explain the fruitful cultural exchange which occurred over the centuries. It demonstrates how the cosmopolitan character of the Islamic civilization united the Old World in interdepedence, contributing to Europe's later technological, scientific, cultural and economic achievements. Finally, the unit shows how all technological and historic advances in human civilization are cumulative efforts to which many peoples have made important contributions. Susan Douglass has an M.A. in Arab Studies from the Georgetown University Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, and a B.A. in History from the University of Rochester. She is a doctoral candidate in world history at George Mason University. During 2006, she served as Senior Researcher for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations initiative, and served as an Affiliated Scholar with the Council on Islamic Education for a decade. Major publications include World Eras: Rise and Spread of Islam, 622-1500 (Thompson/Gale, 2002), teaching resources for the Council on Islamic Education and the National Center for History in the Schools, and a children’s book, Ramadan (Carolrhoda Books, 2002. She is contributor to online teaching resources such as the IslamProject.org, the website and teaching resources for the documentary film Cities of Light (islamicspain.tv), the Smithsonian Freer Gallery teaching guide Arts of Islam, Children and Youth in History at the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University, and the San Diego State University curriculum project World History for Us All. She designed and developed the online resource The Indian Ocean in World History. As researcher and author of the study Teaching About Religion in National and State Social Studies Standards (Freedom Forum First Amendment Center and Council on Islamic Education, 2000), she has continued to study national and state world history and geography standards since 1995. She conducted teacher workshops nationwide for over a decade before developing the education outreach program at the Center for Muslim Christian Understanding, which has held workshops in 25 states since 2007.

Paperback: 978-0-8403-9941-0 / Price: $19.95 eBook: 978-1-56564-892-0 / Open Access Size: 6x9 inches Pages: 83 Year of Publication: 1995