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Lesson 1 of 6
  • Year 2

Al-Razi, the doctor who cared for everyone

I can describe how Al-Razi used science to help people and improve medicine.

Lesson 1 of 6
New
New
  • Year 2

Al-Razi, the doctor who cared for everyone

I can describe how Al-Razi used science to help people and improve medicine.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Al-Razi was a doctor who used careful observation to understand why people became sick.
  2. He tested medicines to find better treatments.
  3. He chose a hospital location by observing how slowly meat rotted in clean, healthy air.
  4. He treated rich and poor people alike, listening and learning from each patient he helped.
  5. He shared ideas, and his books spread worldwide, helping doctors for hundreds of years.

Keywords

  • Doctor - a person who helps sick people get well

  • Observe - to look closely and learn

  • Medicine - things that help us heal or get better when we are sick

Common misconception

Pupils might think that people in the past always believed sickness came from bad spirits or punishment.

Remind them that, despite not having our modern scientific understanding of illness and medicine, people in the past knew a great deal about sickness and helping ill people, and worked carefully to discover as much as they could.


To help you plan your year 2 history lesson on: Al-Razi, the doctor who cared for everyone, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

You could bring in pictures of ancient hospitals or healing herbs; compare these with modern medicine to spark curiosity about how medicine has changed over time, and whether there are any similarities between the two time periods.
Teacher tip

Equipment

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of sensitive content

Supervision

Adult supervision recommended

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2026), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Prior knowledge starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
What is history?

drawing pictures for fun
learning how to cook
Correct answer: stories and facts about the past

Q2.
Which of these is something people used a long time ago?

Correct answer: candles for light
electric cars
robots for cleaning

Q3.
Match each job to what that person does:

Correct Answer:astronaut,flies rockets into space

flies rockets into space

Correct Answer:builder,makes tall buildings

makes tall buildings

Correct Answer:doctor,helps sick people get better

helps sick people get better

Correct Answer:teacher,helps children learn

helps children learn

Q4.
Why is it important to find out why someone is sick?

Correct answer: so we can choose the best way to help them
so we can give them more homework
so we can make them run faster

Q5.
A can help someone when they have a cut.

Correct Answer: plaster, bandage, dressing

Q6.
Why do we learn about people from the past?

to find out what their favourite food was
to learn how to juggle
Correct answer: to understand how their ideas help us today

Assessment exit quiz

Download quiz pdf

6 Questions

Q1.
What made Al-Razi different from people who believed sickness came from bad spirits?

Correct answer: He believed careful observation could help explain illness.
He blamed people for doing wrong things.
He copied old books without questioning them.

Q2.
Not everyone in the past believed sickness came from bad or punishment.

Correct Answer: spirits, demons

Q3.
Why did Al-Razi choose the place where the last piece of meat had not rotted?

Correct answer: He knew it had the cleanest air.
He liked how busy it was.
He wanted to be close to the soldiers.

Q4.
What does the word observe mean?

Correct answer: to look closely and learn
to travel to new places
to write long books

Q5.
Match each action of Al-Razi to what it helped him do:

Correct Answer:noticing patterns in illnesses,helped him understand how illnesses behaved

helped him understand how illnesses behaved

Correct Answer:testing different mixtures,helped him see which treatments really worked

helped him see which treatments really worked

Correct Answer:writing books,helped him share his learning

helped him share his learning

Q6.
What long-term impact did Al-Razi’s writing have?

It caused doctors to stop testing medicines.
Correct answer: It helped doctors understand illnesses for many years.
It made Baghdad the richest city in the world.