Learning about Islam and Islamic civilisation through a webquest: perspectives from pupils and their teacher

ABSTRACT

This article describes one of the first webquests that was designed to enhance middle- and secondary-school pupils’ understandings of Islam and Islamic civilisation. It also explores teachers’ and pupils’ perspectives on their experiences of the webquest’s implementation. Pupils actively participated and collaborated in conducting this web-based project by learning basic information about Islam and reflecting on their understanding of the factors that led to the rise and decline of Islamic civilisation. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through the use of pre- and post-project surveys which were disseminated among pupils, as well as by capturing feedback from the teacher through the medium of an interview. Pupils’ perspectives regarding the use of the webquest were very positive. The findings illustrate that the webquest is suitable for middle-school pupils as a web-based instructional tool for learning about Islam and Islamic civilisation. These findings highlight the potential of this particular webquest to fill a gap regarding the need for appropriate instruction for an important subject.

KEYWORDS:

• Religious education
• Islam
• Islamic civilisation
• web-based instruction

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank the history teacher for implementing the project and for his support in data collection. Thanks, also, to the principal and all participants at the school. I am grateful to members of the EdMedia world conference who attended and provided helpful comments at my presentation of an earlier version of this article at Amsterdam in June 2019. I would like to thank the anonymous referees who have improved this article with their insightful comments.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Besides social studies, coverage of religion [in the US national and state standards] can also be found in language, literature and fine arts (Douglass 2002).

2. Link of the webquest: http://whatwentwrong.taleb.net/.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Abdulaziz BinTaleb

Abdulaziz BinTaleb is an assistant professor in the College of Education at King Saud University, Saudi Arabia. He earned his Ph.D. in curriculum studies from The University of Texas at Austin in 2005. His wider research interests include: Islamic education, international education, teacher professional development and technology integration.