Lesson 8: Why Did Ideas About Treatment Change in the Renaissance?

A clear and engaging GCSE lesson introducing why medical thinking shifted in the Renaissance, focusing on humanism, observation, the printing press, and global discovery.
Students analyse sources, compare Medieval and Renaissance approaches, and investigate what truly changed and what stayed the same using continuity and change as their main second-order concept. The lesson concludes with a guided How far do you agree? extended-writing task supported by DENTS sentence starters and a full model answer.

Includes:
• Retrieval Do Now + answers
• Clear objectives, keywords, and literacy support
• Continuity/change coding activity
• Scaffolded extended-writing task + model answer
• Challenge questions and an exit-ticket quiz

Why Teachers Love This Lesson
• Fully resourced, easy to teach, and exam aligned
• Builds continuity/change understanding early in the unit
• Strong writing scaffolds using DENTS and model responses
• Ideal foundation for Vesalius, Harvey, Paré, and the Great Plague

Coming Soon – New AQA Units
• Elizabethan England (AQA GCSE)
• Germany: Democracy & Dictatorship 1890–1945 (AQA GCSE)
Both full units are currently in development and will be available soon on History Links.

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