New
New
Year 10
Edexcel

Modern advances in understanding the causes of illness and disease

I can explain how understanding of the causes of disease and illness has progressed since 1900.

New
New
Year 10
Edexcel

Modern advances in understanding the causes of illness and disease

I can explain how understanding of the causes of disease and illness has progressed since 1900.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. Lifestyle factors affect people’s health and can cause illness and disease.
  2. Understanding of the impact of lifestyle factors became more scientific in the 20th century.
  3. Genes and DNA determine people's characteristics.
  4. The structure of DNA was discovered in the 1950s.
  5. Some genes responsible for specific diseases have been identified by scientists.

Keywords

  • Lifestyle factor - the way that people live, including their diets and levels of exercise

  • Inherit - to have the same physical or mental characteristics as one of your biological parents or grandparents

  • Genes - information that is passed on from a biological parent to a child which controls particular characteristics

Common misconception

Lifestyle factors have only been considered important for a person's health in the modern period.

Lifestyle factors like diet have been considered important for many centuries, but before the 20th century this was often based on inaccurate ideas like the Theory of Four Humours.


To help you plan your year 10 history lesson on: Modern advances in understanding the causes of illness and disease, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Before completing Task B, in pairs, get pupils to identify a specific example which demonstrates the role of each suggested factor (individuals, technology, government) in advancing understanding of genetics.
Teacher tip

Equipment

Content guidance

  • Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
  • Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering
  • Depiction or discussion of sexual content

Supervision

Adult supervision required

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), 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.
Match each word to its correct definition.

Correct Answer:treatment,methods to cure or help manage an illness

methods to cure or help manage an illness

Correct Answer:prevention,methods to protect people from catching an illness or disease

methods to protect people from catching an illness or disease

Correct Answer:diagnosis,to say what is wrong with someone who is sick

to say what is wrong with someone who is sick

Q2.
Any living organism which is too small to be seen without a microscope is known as a .

Correct Answer: microbe

Q3.
What name was given to the outbreak of plague in Britain in 1348?

Correct answer: the Black Death
the Great Plague
the Great Pox
the Small Pox

Q4.
Identify the correct statement about Renaissance treatments.

tobacco was never used as a cure
Correct answer: tobacco was considered a cure for many illnesses
tobacco was initially seen as a cure and then abandoned by all physicians

Q5.
Match each individual with their contribution to medicine.

Correct Answer:Galen,Ancient Roman surgeon who wrote about human anatomy

Ancient Roman surgeon who wrote about human anatomy

Correct Answer:Edward Jenner,discovered a vaccine for smallpox

discovered a vaccine for smallpox

Correct Answer:John Snow,argued that cholera was spread by contaminated water

argued that cholera was spread by contaminated water

Correct Answer:Andreas Vesalius,used dissections to correct many of Galen's ideas

used dissections to correct many of Galen's ideas

Correct Answer:Louis Pasteur,developed Germ Theory

developed Germ Theory

Correct Answer:Florence Nightingale,improved nurse training and promoted new hospital designs

improved nurse training and promoted new hospital designs

Q6.
Starting with the earliest, sort the following events into chronological order.

1 - Black Death
2 - The Dissolution of the Monasteries
3 - discovery of smallpox vaccine
4 - arrival of cholera in Britain
5 - The Great Stink
6 - development of Germ Theory

Assessment exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
are information that is passed on from a biological parent to a child which controls particular characteristics.

Correct Answer: Genes

Q2.
Which of the following lifestyle factors can cause type 2 diabetes?

Correct answer: eating too much sugar
smoking tobacco
drinking alcohol
unprotected sex

Q3.
Who identified the structure of DNA in 1953?

Correct answer: Francis Crick
Gregor Mendel
Correct answer: James Watson
Rosalind Franklin

Q4.
How many times more powerful are electron microscopes than optical microscopes?

50
500
Correct answer: 5000

Q5.
Which medieval idea encouraged people to follow a balanced diet?

astrology
miasma
Correct answer: Theory of Four Humours

Q6.
Starting with the earliest, sort the following events into chronological order.

1 - Mendel argues that genetic information is inherited from parents
2 - Rosalind Franklin photographs DNA
3 - Watson and Crick discover shape of DNA
4 - genes responsible for haemophilia identified
5 - Human Genome Project begins
6 - gene associated with breast cancer identified

Additional material

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