Projects Help Youths Learn Muslim Feats

Reading thick history books is not Gina Kosty’s favorite pastime.

“It’s boring and really droning,” said the 12-year-old seventh-grader at Redwood Middle School in Thousand Oaks.

When it came to learning about Muslim history from AD 800 to 1200, Gina felt no differently--until teacher Drew Passalacqua gave her and about 140 other seventh-graders in his four history classes a creative assignment. Gina and the other pupils had a week to produce an exhibit outlining one of 16 major contributions Muslims have made to world civilization.

Students presented their projects to other teachers, classmates and parents Friday afternoon in the school’s library and cafeteria. Projects focused on achievements such as the invention of algebra, the role in popularizing chess worldwide, the use of irrigation systems, and the development of the common coin and how that led to checks and credit.

“I think we learn a lot more because we’re able to tell other people about it, which helps us learn,” said Gina, who with 12-year-old Erin Cummings made an exhibit on Islamic geometric and floral design. “I never really knew about [Muslim history] before. I hardly even knew what Islam was until now.”

In each of his three years teaching at Redwood Middle School, Passalacqua has used this project and others to make learning more fun.

“It’s school, but they forget that it’s work and they enjoy it,” Passalacqua said.

“I think it will be a better foundation throughout high school and college. One of the things that’s important is to have a general foundation of other cultures in history by the time they get to high school, so when they hear about Muslims or Islam, they’ll recall it.”

Students were visibly excited about discussing their projects with other classmates and parents, who strolled around the school library and cafeteria from 12:30 to 1 p.m. Some students waited for people to approach their exhibits, while others recruited them.

Raju Yenamandra, whose 11-year-old son, Ashwin, demonstrated the Muslim irrigation system from centuries ago, was very impressed with his son’s involvement.

“He learned more because he’s doing a project, [rather] than just reading something and having to remember it,” Yenamandra said.

That’s exactly what Passalacqua hoped would happen. While each group of students only had to learn one of the 16 Muslim achievements for their exhibits, they learned from other groups as well.