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Students examine the significance of William Harvey’s discovery that blood circulates the body with a focus on his methods, skills, influences and impact on the history of medicine.

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

The 27 slide fully resourced lesson contains activities, tasks, practice exam questions, printable resources and all background knowledge:

• Slide 1: Title slide - William Harvey & the Discovery of the Circulation of Blood
• Slide 2-3: Warm Up - A fun 6 question quiz to find out what students know about the blood system in the human body. Answers provided.
• Slide 4-5: Recap - Students recap their knowledge of another key individual - Andreas Vesalius with a 10 question quiz. Answers provided.
• Slide 6: Starter Discussion - Students given an illustration of a fire fighting pump and have to think about its links to Harvey’s ideas about blood.
• Slide 7-10: Background information and discussion questions based on Harvey;s work, his methods, his ideas and support from the royal family.
• Slide 11-12: Task - Students provided with a printable worksheet to complete based on the fact sheet provided.
• Slide 13: Task - An alternative fact file poster which students can fill in using the fact sheet.
• Slide 14-15: Task - Students explain the influences on Harvey’s work to explain why he was so successful. Includes a printable sheet to rate and explain the factors.
• Slide 16: Challenge questions
• Slide 17-18: Learning Review 1 - Students are provided with 5 images which should prompt them to remember Harvey’s key discoveries about the circulation of blood. Answers provided.
• Slide 19-20: Learning Review 2 - Students compare the work of Harvey and Vesalius and decide which statement best fits each individual. Answers provided.
• 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 23-24: EXAM FOCUS - Two examples of the 16 mark ‘How far do you agree’ question.
• Slide 25-26: Fact sheets
• Slide 27: 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.