Fatimid Caliphate · about 965-1040

Ibn al-Haytham and the science of light

In Fatimid Cairo, a scholar from Basra tested old ideas about light with careful experiments. Students discover how Ibn al-Haytham changed the way we understand seeing, and why testing ideas matters.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
12–15
On the map
3 steps, AD 1000 to AD 1011
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

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A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

In Fatimid Cairo, a scholar from Basra tested old ideas about light with careful experiments. Students discover how Ibn al-Haytham changed the way we understand seeing, and why testing ideas matters.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain in their own words how Ibn al-Haytham thought vision works.
  • Locate Basra and Fatimid Cairo and describe how a scholar moved between them.
  • Describe why experiments, and not only old books, became important in science.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1000

Born in Basra

Open the map in 1000 and zoom in on Basra, where the rivers of Iraq reach the Persian Gulf. Ibn al-Haytham was born here around 965. Which state rules Basra in this year?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1011

Fatimid Cairo

Move to 1011 and zoom in on Cairo with the Cities layer on. Ibn al-Haytham came here in the time of caliph al-Hakim. Which state rules Egypt?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1011

Up the Nile to Aswan

Follow the Nile south to Aswan, where rocks break the river into rapids. A famous story says Ibn al-Haytham went there with a plan to control the floods. Why was that impossible around 1010?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Before Ibn al-Haytham, many scholars thought the eye sends out rays in order to see. How could you test that idea?
  2. He studied light passing through a small hole into a dark room. What would you see on the wall, and why?
  3. He said a scholar should test even the books of famous authors. Why is that hard, and why is it important?
  4. His Book of Optics was translated into Latin and read by European scientists for centuries. How do ideas cross borders?
  5. A famous story says he pretended to be mad to escape an impossible task for the caliph. What does that story tell us about working for a powerful ruler?
4

Game round

9 min

Rule History has no ruler from Fatimid Cairo. Play one round as Saladin, who ended the Fatimid caliphate about 150 years later and ruled Egypt from Cairo. Discuss: why did the rulers of Cairo support scholars, libraries and schools?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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