The Italian Renaissance: science and anatomy
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can explain what some artefacts show us about Renaissance science.
Key learning points
- Inventors like da Vinci developed new scientific ideas.
- Da Vinci's notebooks contain examples of his new inventions.
- People began to study anatomy more scientifically.
- Some developments were made in the understanding of the human body.
Keywords
Church - the Church refers to the institution of the Christian religion
Anatomy - the scientific study of the body and how it functions is called anatomy
Common misconception
Pupils might think that dissection was banned by the medieval Catholic Church.
Explain to pupils that, while dissection was not banned, there was still a taboo around handling dead bodies which limited the number of dissections that took place during the medieval period.
Teacher tip
When discussing Vesalius there is an opportunity to illuminate for pupils how Renaissance humanists wanted to interrogate classical knowledge as well as rediscover it. Vesalius corrected a huge number of anatomical errors made by the classical anatomist Galen.
Content guidance
Depiction or discussion of nudity
Supervision
Adult supervision recommended
Licence
except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Renaissance artists were inspired by the classical worlds of...
Q2.Match the painting technique to its description.
a soft change between colours
ensuring objects are correctly sized
using a great of light and dark tones
Q3.Da Vinci's painting of del Giocondo uses the technique known as sfumato.
Q4.How did the use of new mathematical principles help da Vinci in his paintings?
Q5.Before it was rebuilt, St Peter's was 1200 years old.
Q6.Which of these ancient buildings did the new St Peter's take inspiration from?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.The study of the human body and how it functions is called...
Q2.Leonardo da Vinci was especially interested in human...
Q3.Starting with the earliest, place these events in chronological order.
Q4.Which of these statements best describes the controversy surrounding Copernicus' work.
Q5.Why were Vesalius' dissections different to many others that had been performed up to that point?
Q6.Individual pages of anatomy books were known as sheets.
To help you plan your 7 history lesson on: The Italian Renaissance: science and anatomy, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 7 history lesson on: The Italian Renaissance: science and anatomy, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 3 history lessons from the The Renaissance: what do the artefacts of the Renaissance tell us about it? unit, dive into the full secondary history curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.