Lesson plan of Conflicts in the Middle East: Review

Objectives (5 - 7 minutes )

1. Understanding Middle Eastern Conflicts: Students will be able to understand the main conflicts that have taken place and are still taking place in the Middle East, identifying their causes, consequences and characteristics.

2. Analyzing Specific Conflicts: Students will learn to analyze specific Middle Eastern conflicts, such as the Gulf War, Iraq War, and Arab Spring, understanding their key events, the main actors, and their consequences to the region.

3. Developing Critical Thinking: Through the analysis of the conflicts students will develop critical thinking skills, being able to formulate their own opinions and arguments based on historical facts.

   Secondary objectives:

   • Developing Contextualization: Students will be able to contextualize the Middle East conflicts within the global context, understanding the influence these conflicts have in the world geopolitical scenario.

   • Promoting Respect and Tolerance: When discussing conflicts that involve different ethnic and religious groups, it is important to promote respect and tolerance among the students, fostering an environment of inclusive and respectful learning.

Introduction (10 - 15 minutes)

1. Review of previous contents: The teacher should begin the class reviewing the contents that have been previously taught related to the Middle East region, its geographical characteristics, the formation of modern states, the Palestinian question and the creation of Israel. This reviewing process will be important so the students can better understand the conflicts that are going to be analyzed. (3 - 5 minutes)

2. Problem situations: The teacher should introduce two situations that arouse students' curiosity and motivate them to search for the answers during the course of the lesson. Firstly, it can be addressed the reason why the Middle East is a region that has been historically marked by so many conflicts, considering it has a great ethnic, religious and cultural diversity . Then, the teacher should raise the issue on how the region conflicts affect the rest of the world, in aspects such as economy, politics, and security. (3 - 5 minutes)

3. Contextualization: The teacher should contextualize the importance of the study of the Middle Eastern conflicts, highlighting the direct impact these conflicts have in the global geopolitical scenario, the global economy and international security. As examples, it can mention the conflicts impact on the oil prices, on mass migration and on terrorism dissemination (2 - 3 minutes)

4. Capturing students' attention: In order to arouse the students interests the teacher can share curiosities or stories related to the Middle East conflicts. For instance, it can be brought up how petroleum discovery in the region has brought political power and richness in the Middle East countries, and also it has impacted their relationships with other nations. Another example would be the influence that the Middle East conflicts have had in the creation and expansion of terrorist groups, like Al-Qaeda and ISIS. (2 - 3 minutes)

Development (20 - 25 minutes )

1. **Middle East Conflicts Theory (5- 7 minutes): The teacher should introduce the Middle East conflict theory, stating that due to the region strategic position, its richness in natural resources (specially oil), and different cultures and religions, that has historically made the region stage for disputes and conflicts. 1. Conflict Causes: The teacher must highlight the main conflict causes in the Middle East such as territories disputes, ethnic and religious conflicts, fight to have the power over natural resources and foreign influence (mainly west powers in the Colonial Era and the Cold War). 2. Main conflicts and Actors: The teacher should explain the general conflicts background in the region , like The Gulf War, Iraq War and Arab Spring, among others. He/She should highlight their main events and actors and their consequences to the region and to the world.

2. **Analyzing Specific Conflicts (8 -10 minutes): The teacher must select 3 specific conflicts from the Middle East for a deeper analysis. He/She can create groups within the class, and allocate one conflict to be searched by each group. This group will be in charge to present the conflict overview, its causes, stages, main actors involved and consequences.

   Gulf War: Research questions can include the US and Iraqi participation in the conflict, its causes (main reasons territorial disputes and natural resources ) , the different phases (Kuwait Invasion, Operation Desert Storm, etc.) and the consequences ( creation of the No Fly Zone area and the imposition of financial restrictions to Iraq).

   Iraq War: The teacher can have the groups to search for information on the Iraqi War's reasons, (mainly claims on Iraq having weapons of massive destruction, that were never found), the different stages ( invasion from the US leaded coalition forces, Saddam Husseins downfall, local insurgency among others), and its aftermath , ( the post invasion instability , the rise of the Islamic State, among others).

   Arab Spring: Research questions on Arab spring can be related its main causes, (mostly popular discontent on the lack of political freedom, the corrupted governments, and the poverty) the different stages, (massive demonstrations in several countries, authoritative regimes downfalls, the civil war on Syria among others) and its many different outcomes, (generalized instability on the region, mass migration crisis among others)

3. Debate and reflections (5 -7 minutes): After the group presentations the teacher must conduct an open debate in class, and encourage students to think critically on what they have learnt. To do so the teacher can ask challenging and open questions such as "Which were the main conflict causes?". What have been its most significant consequences? How are the effects in the regions but and the world nowadays?" etc...the teacher must encourage the students to express their opinions and to give arguments supported in historical data.

Closure (8 -10 minutes)

1. Concepts Revision (3- 4 minutes) : The teacher should carry out a revision on he main concepts covered in class, emphasizing the key elements found in Middle East conflict, the analyzed conflicts causes and consequences and the relevance these conflicts have on global geopolitics. 2. Connections with real world (3 -4 minutes): This step aims at helping students to find links between what has been taught in class and real world situations. Teachers can ask students about how their lives have been impacted by Middle east conflict, due for example, to oil price variations , mass migration consequences , terrorism threats , etc.... Also, teachers may ask the students think about current news on these regions, and analyze them having into consideration the conflicts backgrounds and historical context.

2. ** Personal reflections (2 minutes)**: the teacher can ask the students to write down individually a brief reflection about the contents learnt during the lesson. It can be asked topics such as "Which has been the most relevant issue learnt today, in your opinion? or Questions that you still may have in mind on the analyzed topic". Students should write down their responses and in case they want to, to share them in class.

3. **Feedback and evaluation (1 - 2 minutes): The teacher should collect students' opinions and impressions on the lesson taught. What did they enjoy the most? Which content did they find more difficult to understand and what else they would have liked to learn on this topic. The teacher should also evaluate the students performance in class, considering their classroom participation, their understanding of the concepts and the arguments they used when speaking. This evaluation will be used by the teacher to adjust lessons for the future and identify the aspects needed to reinforce.

Conclusion ( 5- 7 minutes)

1. **Lesson Summary ( 2 - 3 minutes): The teacher should recap on what were the key points discussed in class, mentioning again the conflict causes and consequences on Middle East and the relevance of contextualizing them within global geopolitics. Also it is important that these concepts, causes, and consequences are linked with the specific analyzed examples, Gulf war, Iraq War, and the Arab spring.

2. Connecting Theory and Practice ( 1- 2 minutes): To connect the learnt concepts with practical issues the teacher can explain that in the class it was possible to see the connection of the Middle east conflict theory, with actual situations through the detailed analysis of specific historical events, class group discussions and personal and general conclusions reflections.

3. Extra Materials ( 1 - 2 minutes) : The teacher can also suggest additional materials to students wishing to delve deeper in the topic studied in class. There can be suggested resources such as books , documentaries, newspaper articles , websites, and podcasts. Finally, it should be highlighted the importance of continuously acquiring more information on this topic because the comprehension of the Middle Eastern conflicts and their evolution becomes an ongoing learning process.

4. Subject Importance ( 1 minutes) : To finish the class the teacher should reinforce with the students how much crucial is to study and continue learning on Middle Eastern conflicts. This kind of knowledge directly affects the students' own lives, either to understand gas price variations, mass migrations, or terrorist attacks . The values of tolerance and respect must also be highlighted since we are living in an increasing globalized and interconnected era.

   To reinforce the subject importance it can be used some real examples about how the knowledge learnt in the class lessons can influence the analysis of local and worldwide new facts like, when receiving daily news on this region; having more elements when discussing international politics or participating in conversations and debates about the Middle East in general.

   2. As a conclusion, students are invited to keep on going their own search on these issues even outside the classrooms fostering in the students critical thinking skills, self learning, and intellectual curiosity.