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Students examine the rational explanations for illness in Medieval England including the Theory of the Four Humours, Theory of Opposites, Miasma Theory and the influence of Galen.

UPDATED & RE-VAMPED CONTENT IN LINE WITH THE 2026 SPEC

The 26 slide fully resourced lesson contains activities, tasks, practice exam questions, printable resources and all background knowledge:

• Slide 1: Title slide
• Slide 2-3: Warm Up - What are the opposites of each of the 7 words? (Linked to the Theory of Opposites)
• Slide 4-5: Last Lesson Recap - A 10 question quiz which recaps to religious beliefs about the causes of illness in Medieval England. Answers provided.
• Slide 6: Starter 1 - Students are shown a modernised version of the Theory of the Four Humours and have to infer what they can from it about Medieval ideas about medicine.
• Slide 7-9: Starter 1 - Students are given 1-4 visual sources about Medieval medicine and use these to think about what beliefs and types of treatment Medieval people had.
• Slide 10-11: Background information covering the influences of the ancient ideas from Galen and the Theory of the Four Humours.
• Slide 12: Task 1 -A table style activity simply covering the Theory of the Four Humours, the Theory of Opposites and the Miasma Theory.
• Slide 13-14: Task 2 - A worksheet style task with a printable worksheet included.
• Slide 15: Challenge questions
• Slide 16: Learning Review 1 - 10 key terms from the lessons and students need to think of questions which can be answered with these key terms.
• Slide 17-18: Learning Review 1 - A 12 multiple choice and true or flase question quiz sheet with printable resource and answers included.
• Slide 19-20: Lesson fact sheets
• Slide 21: EXAM FOCUS -Two examples of the 4 mark similarity and difference question with suggested sentence starters.
• Slide 22: EXAM FOCUS -An example of a 12 mark ‘Explain why’ question
• Slide 23-4: EXAM FOCUS - Two examples of a 16 mark ‘How far do you agree’ question based on Medieval beliefs about the causes of illness.
• Slide 25: A slide showing the factors which explain continuity and change in Medicine.
• Slide 26: More from RA Resources

All images used in this resource are in the public domain and are therefore copyright free. Images which require attribution have been attributed in the notes section of each slide where the image appears. If you feel any errors have been made, please contact me at raschoolresources@gmail.com in the first instance to resolve any issues. My lessons are completed using PowerPoint and designed on widescreen formatting. Thank you.

This resource is for personal use only unless a school license is purchased and for copyright reasons any slides, worksheets, RA Resources maps or diagrams should not be copied/amended for commercial use.