Islamic Spain, the Iberian Peninsula, and the Reconquista are standard topics in world history, world geography, and world cultures in middle and high schools at the national and state levels. View how this curriculum correlates with standards (Updated 01/2020).
UPF offers teachers the opportunity to enhance students’ understanding of Medieval Spain offering quality teaching material. UPF invited a team of educators to develop 13 lesson plans for Cities of Light that meet specific national teaching standards for both required and elective courses.
This website also provides other resources, such as commonly used terminology of the period, related website links and recommended readings. The lesson plan and website can be used in conjunction with viewing the nationally broadcast two hour PBS special Cities of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain.
The United States Institute of Peace and the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art are funding this special opportunity as part of a research effort to explore students’ understanding of tolerance and pluralism through the lens of world history, using segments of the Cities of Light film.
The website and lesson plans were updated as of January 2020 in part with funding to Georgetown University’s National Resource Center for the Middle East and North Africa from a U.S. Department of Education Title VI Grant.
