58. Exploring the Islamic World: The Astrolabe

Seventh grade students examine the astrolabe and consider whether this ancient device reinforces or challenges our modern-day assumptions about technology. All students complete a writing assignment and some students create models.

Astrolabe by Manon Astier ’19 and Abby Cohen ’19

How does technology transform and impact societies? This question permeates the 7th grade history curriculum on the Islamic world and remains relevant to students today. In their attempt to ease life struggles, people have continuously pushed themselves to create new technologies. As part of their study of technological advances in the Islamic world, students study the astrolabe and consider whether this ancient device reinforces or challenges our modern-day assumptions about technology. Astrolabes, from the Greek combination of astron (start) + lambanien (to take), were used heavily in the Muslim world for trade and pilgrimage purposes and spread to Europe where they were embraced by late Medieval and Renaissance thinkers. Chaucer wrote the first English manual describing the astrolabe in 1391 for his 11-year old son, who could then construct the device and use it to tell time. Though astrolabes could be used during the day, they were most effective on a clear, dark night when the constellations and planets shone brightly in the sky overhead.

Students watch a 2009 TED talk by Tom Wujec that characterizes the astrolabe as the first popular computer. They complete a short writing assignment to consider whether the device strengthens or challenges our contemporary assumptions about the role of technology in the past. Comparing use of the iPhone and the astrolabe, Anya Milberg ’22 concluded that while our phones may feature accurate pictures of the sky and tell time, they can never replace the immediacy of the connection between the sky and the people who used the astrolabe.
—Amanda Schollenberger, Seventh Grade House Advisor and Social Studies Teacher Dee Mingey, Seventh Grade House Advisor and Social Studies Teacher and Middle School Social Studies Department Chair