Imagine being a patient in the past. Who would you trust with your life?
A ‘wise woman’ armed with herbs and hope? A barber-surgeon who could cut your hair and your leg? Or a Great War medic working with mud, blood and whatever equipment had survived the morning?
Welcome to our brand-new GCSE Medicine Through Time Study Day at Fort Nelson. Through drama, historical evidence, replica objects and hands-on activities, students will travel through 300 years of medical mishaps, major breakthroughs and treatments that will make them grateful for modern healthcare.
Prepare for a memorable day of discovery, investigation and questionable historical healthcare choices.
Move beyond textbooks and give students a memorable encounter with 300 years of medical history. Through three immersive workshops, they will examine evidence, handle replica objects and investigate the breakthroughs, conflicts and questionable cures that transformed medicine.
The study day reinforces GCSE knowledge while developing chronological understanding, historical enquiry and confidence with change, continuity and causation.
AQA:
Pearson Edexcel:
This study day reinforces enquiry skills, interpretation, and chronological understanding, supporting both AQA and Edexcel GCSE History courses.
Students will take part in three 45-minute workshops, each exploring a significant period in the history of medicine:
Medicine in the 1600s and 1700s
Students investigate a period when traditional beliefs, herbal remedies and emerging scientific ideas existed side by side. They will explore how the printing press helped medical knowledge travel further and faster, including a few questionable ideas along the way.
Victorian medicine
Brilliant breakthroughs meet terrifying tools as students examine the development of germ theory and changing approaches to surgery, hygiene and infection. They will consider why new medical ideas were sometimes resisted and what eventually persuaded doctors to change their practice.
Medicine on the Western Front
Students discover how the extreme conditions of the First World War accelerated changes in treatment, surgery and patient care. They will explore the challenges faced by medical personnel and how existing knowledge, new techniques and rapid innovation helped save lives.
The day consists of three 45-minute workshops and a 1-hour break for lunch. The day starts at 10am and finishes at 2pm.
When you email us, please provide the following information:
