AQA GCSE History Introduction to Health and the People Thematic

This introductory Health and the People lesson offers a complete, ready to teach gateway into the entire AQA thematic study, giving students the secure chronological foundations and big picture understanding they need for long term success. The lesson introduces the four major time periods and four thematic strands of the course, using clear explanations and structured activities that help pupils grasp how medicine changed from the Medieval era to the modern day. Students explore the zeitgeist of each period and begin to recognise patterns of change and continuity, supported by engaging tasks such as whiteboard challenges, voices from the past, significance ranking, and theme based matching activities. The resource also builds core exam skills and aligns with the AQA assessment objectives, while offering highly interactive elements that promote discussion, retrieval and analytical thinking. It is an ideal first lesson to set the tone for the unit and to ensure students understand the overarching narrative of medicine across a thousand years.