Inspired by a charged political climate, two Friends Academy teachers wanted to give their students the tools to navigate today's dialogue with critical thinking, creativity, and awareness.

Eighth grade teachers Steve Robitaille and Morgan Lord brought their 26 students to six different places of worship in New Bedford and Providence, including a mosque, a synagogue, and a Catholic Church.

"The reasons we chose to visit these places of worship was experience and exposure," said Lord via phone. "There's value in understanding by observing and asking questions."

The students visited a temple, a Quaker meeting house, a mosque, a Catholic church, an Episcopal church, and a Buddhist meditation center. Lord said there were many questions about the litergies and leadership in each practice, but the most interest was generated by each center's community outreach.

"[Students wanted to know] how these places try to reach out and help people in need, or people in crisis," said Lord. Students found that there were a lot of similar practices among the six centers, said Lord.

"The experience helped [students] see these places as different, but similar. Students who never thought they could go into a mosque thought that experience was lovely," she said.

As world history teachers, Robitaille and Lord wanted to frame their curriculum around human rights and advocacy. The resulting comparative religion unit grew as a response to the rise in Islamophobia, said Lord.

The teachers asked students to define humanity, universal rights, and the responsibility of citizenship while engaging in perspective, culture, and social awareness.