In the name of God, the Compassionate the Merciful.

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Claire Alkouatli

•  Graduate of the Islamic Teacher Education Program

•  Master’s degree from UBC in Human Development, Learning and Culture

•  Research explores how children develop and what strategies teachers can use to enhance child development

•  Author, editor of various magazine

•  Lead a playgroup for mothers and babies while living in Saudia Arabia

•  Resulting research question: how to help nurture Muslim children into the global leaders of tomorrow with hearts firmly grounded in Islam?

Islamic Studies as a Tool for Total Human Development

Welcome to our Online Webinar

“ Through others, we become ourselves.”

—Vygotsky, 1987

Agenda •  Objectives & Challenges •  Terminology •  Environment •  Social Relations •  Cultural Tools •  Mediation •  A Developmental Approach toward Objectives

but first… Objectives of Islamic Education

•  Applied understanding of Islam, Iman and Ihsan •  Intrinsically motivated by Taqwa •  Operationalized into Adab

Aware of the integrated nature of our position on earth in holding the responsibility of being equally a vicegerent (Khalifa) and a servant (Abd) of God.

Objective of Islamic Education

and the challenges? that we face in meeting our objectives…

Ability to successfully function in a secular/Western dominated globalized, technological world

as leaders and role models for humanity

The Muslim Child

Thriving Muslim  Global Leader 

“Let there be no disputing about terminology.” —Jalal al-Mahali, quoted in Ajem & Memon, 2011

What is Human Development? Let’s look at it three ways…

—Dr. Larry Walker, Developmental Psychologist, UBC

“The orderly and sequential (not progressive) changes in behaviour that occur with (not as a result of) the passage of time as an organism moves from conception to death, as a function of both biological and environmental influences.”

1. Standard Definition

•  Natural line as biological and elementary •  Cultural line as higher mental functions •  The two lines interweave + interact in the

environment •  Mediated by culture

—Wertsch, 1985 

2. Natural and Cultural Lines of Development

3. Sociocultural Definition

“We learn and develop through emotional experience, in social relationships, with language and cultural semiotics.”

—Vadeboncoeur & Collie, 2013, p. 222 

Table 1 — 5 Forces of Human Development

The Environment “through emotional experience”

Social Relationships “in social relationships”

Cultural Tools “and cultural semiotics”

Mediation “with language”

Instructional Strategies “We learn and develop”

Table 2 — Short Definitions

5 Forces of Human Development The Environment The source of development

Social Relationships The social origins of higher mental functions

Cultural Tools The systems we use to make sense of the world

Mediation Making meaning + interpreting

Instructional Strategies Learning draws development forward

1. The Environment

Both the source and the site of human

development.

•  Children are embedded within environments characterized by physical, social and cultural elements.

•  Interactions between the child and his/her environment actually come to bear on development.

2 Important Points

•  Change: Both the child and the environment change over time, environmental impact upon the child depends on the child’s developmental phase.

•  Final form: a unique characteristic of child development is that the final forms of development exist in the environment from day one, and impact upon the child from day one.

Mother speaks in final form 

Baby babbles 

Toddler speaks 

Child speaks in final form 

Final/Ideal forms •  are present in a child’s environment from day one •  interact and impact upon the child from day one

—Vygotsky, 1994 

Table 3 – The Environment

Links to the Deen Educational Implications

Islam, Iman, Ihsan The home, school and classroom environments should contain myriad examples of the ideal forms that we want our children to internalize.

Adab In environments characterized by love and logic, children observe, participate, appropriate and, eventually, internalize.

Principles of Islamic Pedagogy

1.  Conviction of the primal purpose and universal trust assigned to humankind.

2.  The primacy of knowledge and of seeking it

3.  The learning environment is sacred, disciplined, caring, and functional

—Ajem & Memon, 2011 

Take Home Question Do the social environments we create in our schools and classrooms reflect, embody + teach the things we want

children to learn?

2. Social Relationships The social origins of higher mental

functions.

General Genetic Law of Cultural Development

“Any function in the child’s cultural development appears twice or on two planes. First it appears on the social plane, and then on the psychological plane.”

—Vygotsky, 1981, as quoted in Wertsch, 1985, p. 60 

“In Jannah, Woof will be real…”

We rent the words of others

—Woof: his brother’s beloved stuffed dog 

Others speak to us + around us 

Social speech becomes internal speech 

Internal speech becomes thoughts 

Thoughts become acWons 

Social influence outside of an individual transforms to become social influence inside of an individual.

—Wertsch, 1985 

Table 4 – Social Relationships

Links to the Deen Educational Implications

“Each child is born in a state of Fitrah, then his parents make him/her a Jew, Christian or Zoroastrian…” —Prophet Muhammad; Al-Bukhari and Muslim

The social relationships our children inhabit are extremely important because they will draw from them to develop themselves.

Taqwa Surrounding ourselves and our children with people more experienced/advanced than ourselves raises the bar of our development.

Principles of Islamic Pedagogy

6·Instruction is in accordance with students’ aptitude, pace, + learning style

—Ajem & Memon, 2011 

Take Home Question Are we providing for our children role models in the form

of more experienced others who can nurture their cognitive and spiritual development in engaged

relationship?

3. Cultural Tools The signs, symbols, systems, products and processes held valuable by our culture, by which we learn and develop.

Cognitive differences between cultures are due to differences in cultural tools and how we acquire them.

—Kozulin, 1998 

A Canadian illustration of cultural tools

•  “The principles aim to prepare students to become competent, informed global citizens – citizens who are literate and numerate, who are competent thinkers and communicators, and who are personally and socially competent in all areas of their lives.”

Describing the principles of a revised provincial curriculum.

— https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca

Conceptual Literacy

•  thinking in decontextualized abstract ways

•  using analogical reasoning •  transferring cognitive strategies

across contexts •  problem solving •  using metacognitive functions—

thinking/planning thinking

Islamic Literacy

•  understanding the cultural tools that characterize the different parts of the Islamic deen: ibadat, fiqh, etc

•  nuanced use of these tools •  rituals of congregational prayer, private prayer and the specific

prayers of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him.

“Symbolic systems specific for a given culture that when internalized by individual learners become their inner cognitive tools.”

—Kozulin et al., 2003. p. 3 

The transformative process of individualizing cultural tools through participation in social practices.

—Vadeboncoeur et al., 2011 

Internalization

Table 5 – Cultural Tools

Links to the Deen Educational Implications

Each aspect of Islamic Studies has unique cultural tools: material elements and, more importantly, symbols and processes of functioning.

Islamic Studies teachers should think about the cultural tools of the Deen and the best ways to work with them in the classroom.

The cultural tools Prophetic period are best.

The cultural tools of the global community are ones that our children will need to succeed. How can we best approach them with our children?

Principles of Islamic Pedagogy

4·The responsibility to act upon what one learns and teaches

—Ajem & Memon, 2011 

Take Home Questions What are the cultural tools unique to each aspect of

Islamic Studies—both products and processes—and how close are they to the Prophetic ideal?

What are the cultural tools of the global community most important for our children to learn?

Can they be learned without causing damage to Islamic knowledge and identity?

Better yet, could they be learned through Islamic Studies?

4. Mediation The ways we interpret and make

meaning of our world.

Mediated Learning Experiences

•  helping children pay attention to important details

•  helping children make connections between concepts

•  drawing deeper meaning out of a situation

•  an effective human mediator can enrich learning experiences by working at the highest end of a child’s ability.

In dynamic, dialogic relationship, the Prophet, peace be upon him, worked with each of his companions, taking into consideration their individual characteristics, and investing in them as individuals. He evolved a pedagogy through which he encouraged his companions to develop their critical faculties, express their talents, and mature in his presence.

—Ramadan, 2007 

Table 6 – Mediation

Links to the Deen Educational Implications

The Prophet Muhammad as mediator of the Quran to his companions.

The link between the external + the internal. As educators, we are important mediators—pointing out what’s important in constant analysis.

As the signs of God are everywhere, we need to help children see them.

Cross-contextual mediation: finding the Islamic in the non-Islamic.

Principles of Islamic Pedagogy

2·The primacy of knowledge and of seeking it 5·The religious responsibility for self-assessment and

accountability

—Ajem & Memon, 2011 

Take Home Question Are we as educators sufficiently providing mediated

learning environments for our children?

Instructional Strategies Teaching/learning stimulates development.

In Conclusion! Applying a sociocultural perspective of human development to the

education of Muslim children.

An example Developing cognition using the Quran as a medium does more than teach the basic of a religion: through individual study, mediated learning and social speech, the Quran weaves itself into the child’s inner speech, thoughts and higher mental functions, as thought is not simply expressed in words, it actually comes to exist through them. Then thoughts and words become actions.

environment 

social relaWons cultural tools 

media&on 

environment 

internaliza&on 

cultural tools par&cipa&on teaching/learning 

“The primary reason that no one can reach the station of companions of the Prophet is that direct connection with the Prophet is immeasurable and no transmission is complete without actual human contact.”

—Montasser Azam, personal communicaWon, February 2013 

Implications

•  learning and development happen through human relationships

•  we need to surround ourselves with ‘more experienced others’

•  we need to develop our own selves in order to be ‘more experienced others’ to children

The Goal Using the environment, social relationships, cultural

tools and mediation to nurture our children’s development within an Islamic framework.

Islamic Studies as the ONLY Tool for the Total Human Development of Muslim

Children

The real title:

Thank you

claire.alkouatli@gmail.com

I would appreciate all feedback directly!