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Maps are an excellent tool for taking students on meaningful adventures through geography, cultures, history, and current events.  We often think of maps as neutral documents that give us an unmediated snapshot of political borders and cities, or terrain, or resources. However, maps are human documents, and they therefore reflect their creators’ point of view. How does a mapmaker decide what is worth including on a map and what will be left out? How do these choices focus our attention on the mapmaker’s concerns? How do they reflect her intellectual, economic or political biases? Asking questions such as this will help students develop “map literacy” as they explore the fascinating history and cultures of the Middle East, as well as the significant role geography plays in the region.

Technology has revolutionized the way we look at and represent the world. Using innovative technologies like Google Earth allows students to appreciate the complexities of geography with an interactive interface rather than the two-dimensional, static perspective of “flat maps.” At a time when 85% of Americans still can’t find Israel, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Iran on a map, letting students explore the region through this more engaging interface is more likely to allow them to make intellectually “sticky” connections between places, peoples, and events than traditional methods.

We hope that the Google Earth tours presented here will provoke questions and discussion about the complex realities of the Middle East. We, too, have made choices and followed our own inspiration in creating these interactive geographical pathways. Hopefully, the materials and lessons presented here will inspire you to create your own mental and physical maps of the Middle East, on paper or in Google Earth!

If you have questions about the content of TeachMideast.org, our teacher workshop program or other outreach activities, email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it at bpetzen@mepc.org This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

If you have technical issues with the website, email Neil Brandvold at nbrandvold@mepc.org This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

If you have general questions about the Middle East Policy Council, email Zachary Vono This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it at zvono@mepc.org This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

To reach the Middle East Policy Council by telephone, call (202) 296-6767. Our fax number is (202) 296-5791. The website for the Middle East Policy Council is http://www.mepc.org.

How to Use This Site

TeachMideast is a website designed for K-12 educators featuring a plethora of innovative new resources on the Middle East and Islam. The site includes essays, classroom activities, downloadable multimedia content and interactive Google Earth tours. We hope you will find it easy to browse subjects through our eight themes on the top bar of the website, and through the Google Earth tours we have designed for each theme.

The site is organized by the eight themes you see across the top bar of our home page. We recommend that you begin by choosing one of these themes. Each theme features a Google Earth tour located at the top of the page. You will also find various scholarly essays, classroom activities and downloadable multimedia content.

Google Earth tours can be accessed by clicking the “View in Google Earth” link above the top right hand corner of the map.

Get Google Earth for free at http://earth.google.com/intl/en/.  Follow the downloading instructions.

Tours appear as maps on the Teachmideast website.  To view them in Google Earth, select the “View in Google Earth” button at the top right corner of the map.

To get the most out of your Google Earth tour, make sure that roads and 3D buildings will be displayed.  Look in the bottom left corner of the Google Earth interface and check the boxes for “Roads” and “3D Buildings.”

You are ready to start your tour!  Simply select the tour from the “Places” menu on the left hand side of the screen and double-click where it says “Click Here to Start Tour.”  From here you need only push the Play button on the bottom of the screen to advance to each stop on your tour.

Keep in mind you have full 3D movement in Google Earth!  Use the tools in the top right corner of the screen to tilt, twirl, and zoom-in on areas of interest. Pause the tour at anytime and we encourage you to explore the surrounding areas.

Google Earth has many more features that may be used in your Middle Eastern tours.  A comprehensive Google Earth user guide can be found at http://earth.google.com/intl/en/userguide/v5/.

We welcome any suggestions for additions in content, or for improvements we can make in the website.

About Us

TeachMideast is a resource designed primarily to give middle and high school teachers the tools they need to teach about critical, complex and intriguing subjects-the Middle East, Islam and Muslims. Elementary and college-level teachers will also find much of use here, for both their classrooms and their personal edification. This website is the core project of the Middle East Policy Council's educational program and underpins MEPC's free teacher institutes. You can schedule a free professional development workshop tailored to your school or school system's needs here.

The Middle East Policy Council is 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1981 whose mission is to contribute to American understanding of the political, economic and cultural issues that affect U.S. policy in the Middle East.  This is accomplished through three programs: the quarterly journal Middle East Policy (the most influential policy publication on the region); the Capitol Hill Conference Series for policymakers and their staffs offering multiple points of view on complex issues; and our acclaimed professional development workshops for K-12 educators.  The journal can be subscribed to through Blackwell Publishing, but the other two programs are offered free of charge. We believe that knowledge, insight and perspective are the paths to understanding, and strive to provide these through our nonpartisan programming and our new website for educators, TeachMideast.org. The other programs of MEPC are served through a separate website at http://www.mepc.org.

Meet our Staff

Barbara Petzen, Outreach Director

Before becoming MEPC’s Education Director, Barbara Petzen served as outreach coordinator at the Harvard Center for Middle Eastern Studies since just before September 11, 2001. She had previously designed and taught courses on Middle Eastern history, Islam and women's studies at Dalhousie University and St. Mary's University in Nova Scotia, Canada. She has also served as tutor and teaching assistant at Harvard University, where she will one day complete her doctoral dissertation in Middle Eastern history on European governesses in the Ottoman Empire and Egypt. She earned her BA in International Poli tics and Middle Eastern Studies at Columbia College and a second Honours BA as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University in Oriental Studies. Her academic interests include Ottoman history, the history and present concerns of women in the Middle East and Islamic world, the role of Islam in Middle Eastern and other societies, relations and perceptions between the Islamic world and the West, and the necessity for globalizing K-12 education in the United States.

Neil Brandvold, Program Manager

Before joining the Middle East Policy Council, Neil Brandvold was director of membership at the Wireless Communications Association International, an international trade advocacy association. Over the past 5 years Brandvold has worked with various non-profits organizations in development and program management. He earned a BA in Political Science with a focus on International Politics at Weber State University and was the president of the student chapter of Amnesty International. Throughout college he worked closely with the recent immigrant population organizing workers in local factories. Brandvold also spent two years as a volunteer in Honduras where he led sustainable community development projects for at-risk populations. His interests include Middle Eastern culture, politics, history and literature, and is dedicated to fostering a greater understanding between the American public and the Middle East.