Draft: this lesson was written with AI help and has not yet been read by a human editor.
1 What your class asks
This lesson asks you to investigate how science and technology can work with other school subjects on real-world problems, and to analyse what various communities have contributed to science and technology. The museum links only examples from Muslim scholars; your class will add contributions from other communities. 1
Curriculum expectations, with their official codes
- A3.2 investigate how science and technology can be used with other subject areas to address real-world problems
- A3.3 analyse contributions to science and technology from various communities
2 Before you start
A thought to carry into the lesson.
3 The lesson
How can two subjects solve one problem?
Look at the first expectation. Name a real problem, the two subjects used on it, and what each one added that the other could not.
Whose work are we looking at?
The second expectation asks you to analyse contributions from various communities. For each contribution, ask who made it, for whom, and what it made possible.
Go deeper
Muhammad, Ahmad and al-Hasan were the sons of Musa ibn Shakir, the Banu Musa. Ibn al-Nadim describes them as among those who pursued the ancient sciences to the utmost. They sent to the land of the Romans for someone to bring them books, and brought translators from distant regions with generous pay. The sciences that dominated them were geometry, mechanical devices, motion, music and astronomy 2. The record gives no reason in their own words, but it shows that they spent generously on books.
Think about it
The Banu Musa paid generously for books and for translators. Why does that help the people who come after them to learn?
Into the museum
- The Banu Musa: three sons of Musa ibn Shakir, whose books include Ahmad's "Mechanical Devices".
- Al-Karaji: a mathematician and engineer who wrote about levelling and aligning water tunnels.
- Al-Jazari: an engineer who wrote a book on mechanical devices.
Try this
Read the cards on the Banu Musa, al-Karaji and al-Jazari. Make a table with three columns: the person or family, the problem they worked on, and the subjects they used.
4 Carry it further
Where this lesson leads in the museum.
5 Check yourself
Nothing here is marked or sent anywhere. It is for you.
In your own words: what does Banu Musa have to do with this lesson?
Compare with the card
A family that gathered learning. Ibn al-Nadim describes Muhammad, Ahmad and al-Hasan, the sons of Musa ibn Shakir, as men who pursued the ancient sciences to the utmost. He says geometry, mechanical devices, motion, music and astronomy were the sciences that dominated them, and that they brought copyists (people who copied books) from distant regions with generous pay. Among their books are "Mechanical Devices" by Ahmad and a book on the pneumatics. What can a family contribute when it spends its wealth on learning?
In your own words: what does Al-Karaji have to do with this lesson?
Compare with the card
Mathematics meets water. Al-Karaji was a mathematician and engineer: MacTutor describes algebraic work followed by later engineering interests. Ataie-Ashtiani and Simmons describe his book on hidden waters as using levels, tools for measuring heights, together with geometry to explain how to line up a tunnel so that it can carry water. How do mathematics and engineering help each other with a problem about water?
I can now