What factors enabled the revolution in understanding about germs and
vaccinations to take place?
Learning Outcomes:
To identify the changes that took place in ideas about the cause of disease
as a result of the discovery of germ theory, and to explain why this contributed
to the development of more effective treatments (vaccinations).
To identify the factors (role of individual, government, scientific method
etc) that enabled this revolution in medical knowledge to take place.
Video:
Activity:
Read this short page about Germ
Theory and these biographies of Louis
Pasteur and Robert
Koch. Using the information on these pages, create an interactive
timeline (using
the timeline generator on classtools.net) showing how the development
of Germ Theory led to the introduction of vaccines for numerous diseases.
Now consider the different factors that led to the discovery of Germ
Theory and the improvements that followed its acceptance.
Referring to the information on your timeline and on the pages you have
already read through, complete this interactive diagram (from schoolhistory.co.uk)
Further information about Pasteur and Germ Theory can be
found on these sites:
Pasteur
from BBC History and on Pasteur
and Koch.
Our own pages on Pasteur,
Koch and the fight
against infectious diseases.
Remember – the development of vaccines was not the end of
the battle against diseases. There have been many subsequent improvements
in terms of developing immunology and drugs that tackle various diseases.
See the infectious disease section of the main part of this website for
further details. In the meantime, why not play
the immune system defender game created by the Nobel Foundation.
