KS4 KS5 History of science and culture: what can we learn from alchemy?

Suitable for 14-to-19-year olds (secondary and high schools, and college), this article and accompanying activity sheet can be used in the classroom and at home.

This resource links to KS4 and KS5 literature, history and Italian.

It can also be used as a careers resource and links to Gatsby Benchmarks:
Gatsby Benchmark 2: Learning from career and labour market information
Gatsby Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers

• This teaching resource explains the work of Dr Matteo Soranzo, a professor of Italian studies at McGill University, Canada. He is analysing texts written by the medieval alchemist Cristoforo da Parigi to understand how culture influences scientific ideas.

• This resource also contains an interview with Matteo and offers an insight into careers in Italian studies.

• The activity sheet provides ‘talking points’ (based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) to prompt students to reflect on Matteo’s research and challenges them to discuss how today’s culture shapes current research priorities.

This resource was first published by Futurum Careers, a free online resource and magazine aimed at encouraging 14-to-19-year-olds worldwide to pursue careers in science, tech, engineering, maths, medicine (STEM) and social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy (SHAPE).

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