{"id":3808,"date":"2018-06-30T09:58:14","date_gmt":"2018-06-30T09:58:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/?page_id=3808"},"modified":"2026-06-21T10:53:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T10:53:28","slug":"medicine-through-time-teachers-resources","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/schoolshistory.org.uk\/topics\/medicine-through-time\/medicine-through-time-teachers-resources\/","title":{"rendered":"Medicine Through Time – Teachers’ Resources"},"content":{"rendered":"

Our teachers resources for Medicine Through Time. Sorted in chronological order with general lesson materials\u00a0added at the foot of the list. Tasks\u00a0include packs of starter activities, online lessons, worksheets and audio-visual resources. Where possible the resources make use of artwork that is pertinent to the study of medicine through time. There is a combination of free and premium medicine through time resources. New resources are being added regularly and we welcome requests.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Medicine Through Time Teachers’ Resources<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Attitudes towards medicine in Ancient Eygpt<\/a>\"Egyptian<\/td>\nAttitudes towards medicine in Ancient Eygpt<\/a><\/p>\n

Online activity that uses sources from the ancient world to explore the impact of religious beliefs on medical practice.<\/p>\n

Explore written methods of diagnosing ailments and administering the prescribed cures. What evidence is there of religion influencing these treatments? Ideal for GCSE history students wanting to see how medicine had been practised in the Ancient Civilisations.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Cult of Asclepius<\/a>\"Cult<\/td>\nCult of Asclepius<\/a><\/p>\n

A decision making exercise that places the learner in the heart of the Greek world.<\/p>\n

The temples of the Cult of Asclepius were a place not only of worship but also of healing. Associated with words such as hygiene and regimen which remain in use today, they are an early example of lifestyle choices, basic cleanliness and healthy living being seen as significant.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Theory of the Four Humours<\/a>\"\"<\/td>\nTheory of the Four Humours<\/a><\/p>\n

A series of explanations and activities that develop an understanding of this important idea.<\/p>\n

The Four Humours is a theory that formed the basis of medical belief and practise for centuries. A relatively simple idea, it links the different fluids within the body to different types of illness. If those fluids becoming imbalanced, illness happens. To cure the illness a doctor must rebalance the humours. For GCSE students studying Medicine from c1350 this is a vital theory to gain an understanding of. It is the basis upon which much of medicine at that time was practised and new ideas stem from, or challenge, it.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Change and Continuity in the Ancient World<\/a>
\n\"Teachers<\/td>\n		Change and Continuity in the Ancient World<\/a><\/p>\n

Interactive exercise that revises knowledge and understanding of the key changes and continuities over key ancient civilisations.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Galen and Roman Medicine<\/a>\"\"<\/td>\nGalen and Roman Medicine<\/a><\/p>\n

Explore Galen’s influence on medicine in the Roman world.<\/p>\n

Galen as one of the most significant individuals in the history of medicine. His works covered many aspects of health, disease, surgery and treatments. The influence of Galen’s work was lasting. It was still taught in Medieval Europe as being the accepted truth about the human body. These ideas were based upon early scientific methods. To improve them required ground breaking techniques, new inventions and the willingness to challenge the might of the Catholic Church.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Medical Monopoly<\/a>\u00a0A revision game based on Medicine in the Ancient World\"\"<\/td>\nMedical Monopoly<\/a><\/p>\n

A revision game based on Medicine in the Ancient World.<\/p>\n

One of our most popular resources with colleagues and pupils alike. This TES Pick makes learning or revising the early history of medicine memorable and fun. The game is adaptable enough to be used with pupils of most abilities and can be added to for revision of later periods.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Medieval Medicine<\/a>\u00a0An Active Learning exercise\"\"<\/td>\nMedieval Medicine<\/a><\/p>\n

An Active Learning exercise providing a breadth of knowledge of medicine in the Middle Ages.<\/p>\n

In the Middle Ages a busy town or City would see many forms of medicine on offer. Physicians may use wound charts, urine charts and the texts from Universities. Monasteries may offer cleanliness and prayer. Surgery may be undertaken by army surgeons or amateur barber surgeons. Curious cures could be offered by eccentric peddlars. Herbal remedies were available, often based at home. With so many choices for people to consider, how did they decide what to do? This simulation provides a depth of understanding of the variety of options available. It smashes the myth that everything was based on the works of Galen.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Medieval Medicine<\/a>\"\"<\/td>\nMedieval Medicine<\/a><\/p>\n

An aid for researching a variety of aspects of medical practice and beliefs during the Middle Ages.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Impact of the Black Death<\/a>\"Black<\/td>\nImpact of the Black Death\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Card sort exercise on the impact of the Black Death. Includes extension activities.<\/p>\n

Created by Roy Huggins<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Islamic Medicine: A mindmapping exercise<\/a>\"Resource<\/td>\nIslamic Medicine: A mindmapping exercise<\/a><\/p>\n

Designed to develop learners revision skills whilst building up their knowledge and understanding of developments in the early islamic empire.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Islamic Medicine Lesson Pack<\/a>\u00a0Assessment for learning activity\"Islamic<\/td>\nIslamic Medicine Lesson Pack.<\/a><\/p>\n

Assessment for learning activity using a number of sources.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Medicine in the Renaissance<\/a>\"Medicine<\/td>\nMedicine in the Renaissance<\/a><\/p>\n

These resources are for GCSE Medicine Through Time teachers. The pack contains an overview of the main characteristics of the period and the way in which Medicine developed at the time.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

William Harvey<\/a>\"\"<\/td>\nWilliam Harvey<\/a><\/p>\n

Activity Sheets that explore the importance of previous work in enabling Harvey’s most significant findings.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Andreas Vesalius<\/a>\"Vesalius<\/td>\nAndreas Vesalius<\/a><\/p>\n

Background information and questions to check knowledge.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Research and revision grids: the Renaissance<\/a>\"Medicine<\/td>\n
\nResearch and revision grids: the Renaissance<\/a>Research grids and timeline tasks for the Renaissance period.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The Great Plague, an Investigation.<\/a>\"Great<\/td>\nThe Great Plague, an Investigation.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Data rich investigation into the spread of the Great Plague of 1666. Makes use of contemporary accounts, data and illustrations.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Edward Jenner: Vaccinations and Smallpox.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Edward<\/td>\n

Edward Jenner: Vaccinations and Smallpox.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Online Lesson.<\/p>\n

How did Edward Jenner discover a vaccine against the deadly disease Smallpox? How did people react to the idea of vaccination? Find out here.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Public Health or Pasteur?<\/a>\"\"<\/td>\nPublic Health or Pasteur?<\/a><\/p>\n

Interactive lesson from the Dynamic Learning package that I co-authored for Hodder Murray.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

King Cholera: John Snow and the Cholera outbreak of 1854<\/a>\"Cholera<\/td>\nKing Cholera: John Snow and the Cholera outbreak of 1854<\/a><\/p>\n

Outline of a lesson with links to external resources (source material and audio visual). Easy to adapt for your own classroom.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

How safe were 19th century hospitals?<\/a>\"\"<\/td>\nHow safe were 19th century hospitals?<\/a><\/p>\n

An investigation making use of a selection of external resources.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Public Health through the ages<\/a>\"Vaccinations<\/td>\nPublic Health through the ages<\/a><\/p>\n

An active learning lesson written with Adam Henson and myself. Edited by Ian Dawson and hosted externally on his site.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

The Fight against Infectious Disease<\/a>\"\"<\/td>\nThe Fight against Infectious Disease<\/a><\/p>\n

Information sheet with accompanying literacy tasks.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Starter Activities for Medicine through Time<\/a>\"\"<\/td>\nStarter Activities for Medicine through Time<\/a><\/p>\n

A collection of starter activities and ‘bell tasks’ relating to medicine through time.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Flash Card Revision Activity<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/td>\n

Flash Card Revision Activity<\/a><\/p>\n

A fun but proven way of improving recall of knowledge. This resource can be used in a number of different ways from engaging starter \/ plenary sessions to use as revision flash cards.<\/p>\n

Resource by Roy Huggins.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Card Sort and Top Trumps Revision Activity<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Edward<\/td>\n

Card Sort and Top Trumps Revision Activity<\/a><\/p>\n

Simple but effective revision activities that can be used over and over again.<\/p>\n

By Roy Huggins.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Medicine Through Time Lessons<\/h3>\n

What were your chances of a long life if you were born in 1350?<\/a><\/p>\n

How far did Ancient Medical ideas continue to be used in the Medieval World?<\/a><\/p>\n

What did people believe caused the Black Death?\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

How much did medicine change between 1750 and 1900?<\/a><\/p>\n

John Snow, the Broad Street Water Pump and the spread of Cholera<\/a><\/p>\n

Medical problems of the 19th Century<\/a><\/p>\n

Was taking medicine actually going to make you ill in the 19th century?<\/a><\/p>\n

What factors enabled the understanding of germs and the spread of disease?<\/a><\/p>\n

Why did life expectancy increase in the twentieth century?\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Why was Gerhard Domagk awarded the 1939 Nobel Prize for Medicine?<\/a><\/p>\n

What changed when the NHS started?<\/a><\/p>\n

Is Alternative Medicine really a viable alternative? Lesson<\/a><\/p>\n

Advances in Medical Technology in the 20th Century \u2013 Lesson<\/a><\/p>\n

Recommended External Resources for Teaching the History of Medicine<\/h3>\n

Audio-visual materials that I have come across or use are\u00a0listed on this page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Public Health and housing<\/a>. (Online activities, external link) An excellent
\nseries of 5 source based tasks\u00a0created by the Manuscripts and specials
\ncollections team at the University of Nottingham.<\/p>\n

Public Health \/ Industrial Revolution<\/a>. (Online activities, exteral link)
\nA series of online activities provided by Mr Walker on educationforum.co.uk.<\/p>\n

Developments\u00a0in Surgery<\/a>. (MS Word) An introductory activity on surgery asking pupils
\nto think about the problems faced by surgeons at the time and the methods
\nof dealing with them that were available at the time.<\/p>\n

Surgery in the 19th Century<\/a>. (MS Powerpoint). Overview of developments in
\nSurgical technique.<\/p>\n

Simulating\u00a019th century surgery<\/a>. External link to an excellent active learning
\nlesson devised by Andy Harmsworth.<\/p>\n

\"Surgery<\/p>\n

Medicine history<\/a>\u00a0– Teaching material\u00a0in a variety of formats to download from Teachable.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Military medicine through time<\/a> (Online lesson, requires flash) External link
\nto the NOVA Science programme interactivity on the history of military
\nmedicine.<\/p>\n

Revision Booklet<\/a>. (MS Word) A simple enough idea. Pupils complete biographies
\nof key individuals in the history of medicine as homework activities over
\nthe course. This can then be used as part of their revision for the exams.<\/p>\n

Have you got a Medicine Through Time teaching activity, worksheet, presentation or video that you would like to share with colleagues? Contact us with details and a short blurb.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our teachers resources for Medicine Through Time. Sorted in chronological order with general lesson materials\u00a0added at the foot of the list. Tasks\u00a0include packs of starter activities, online lessons, worksheets and audio-visual resources. Where possible the resources make use of artwork that is pertinent to the study of medicine through time. There is a combination of… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1409,"parent":32,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"off","neve_meta_content_width":100,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3808","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t