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 compare physical environments in different places and decide which have the greatest impact on people, saying what criteria you used. The museum offers one desert crossing; your class must bring other environments, such as rainforests, mountains or coasts, to compare. 1
Curriculum expectations, with their official codes
- A1.3 assess the physical environment in various locations around the world to determine which environment or environments have the greatest impact on people […]
2 The lesson
What criteria would you rank by?
Decide what counts as a challenge and what counts as an opportunity before you compare. Ask whether the same environment can be both, and for whom.
Go deeper
Ibn Jubayr left Qus on camels with the camel-drivers from al-Mubarraz on the southern side of the town, and then reached Aydhab 2. They set out on Monday, the thirteenth of Safar, and at the beginning of the night they halted at a water known as al-Hajir. After it the book mentions the water points, among them al-'Ashira, two stages from Aydhab 2. The book states that this road was deadly to pilgrims through thirst 2. They arrived on Saturday at a city on the coast of the Jeddah sea, without walls, from which the jalab sail to Jeddah 2. How do we know the order of the stops? The record says that the order of these points is not settled, because their mention in the text runs across two routes 2.
Think about it
The book names the water points one after another, and it also says the road was deadly to pilgrims through thirst. If you had to plan this crossing, which would you most want to know about each water point, and why would the unsettled order of the stops matter to you?
Into the museum
- Qus to Aydhab across the desert: the stages, the water points and the warning about thirst.
- Ibn Jubayr: the traveller whose book describes the road.
- Qus: where the camels set out.
- Aydhab: the city on the coast where the crossing ends.
Try this
Read Qus to Aydhab across the desert. List the challenges the traveller faced and anything the road offered, then say how you would score this desert against another environment your class chooses.
3 Check yourself
Nothing here is marked or sent anywhere. It is for you.
In your own words: what does Qus to Aydhab across the desert, on Ibn Jubayr's road have to do with this lesson?
Compare with the card
A desert road and its water points. A stage of Ibn Jubayr's journey to the pilgrimage: he left Qus on camels with the camel-drivers and reached Aydhab, and the record lists the desert water points on the way, among them al-Hajir, Shaghib and Anqash. Ibn Jubayr's book states that this road was deadly to pilgrims through thirst. What does a traveller's list of water points tell you about this desert?
I can now