New
New
Year 10
Edexcel

William Harvey

I can evaluate the impact of William Harvey’s work on blood.

New
New
Year 10
Edexcel

William Harvey

I can evaluate the impact of William Harvey’s work on blood.

These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. There was growing emphasis on dissection as a part of Renaissance physicians' medical training.
  2. Galen wrote that blood was made in the liver and burned up in the body.
  3. William Harvey's theory of blood argued that it circulated throughout the body constantly.
  4. William Harvey's ideas challenged thousands of years of medical knowledge and practice.
  5. Many other physicians rejected or ignored William Harvey's new ideas.

Keywords

  • Circulation - the movement of blood around your body

  • Transform - to change something completely, usually to improve it

Common misconception

Correcting Galen's mistakes led to immediate improvements in medical practices.

Despite Harvey's theory suggesting bloodletting would be dangerous, most physicians continued to recommend the procedure as a common form of treatment.


To help you plan your year 10 history lesson on: William Harvey, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

Ask pupils to discuss the following in pairs: 'how could it be argued that Harvey benefitted from the work already completed by Andreas Vesalius?'. After sharing answers, get them to debate who had the biggest impact on anatomy and Renaissance medicine: Vesalius or Harvey.
Teacher tip

Equipment

Content guidance

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

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.
An is a smooth, thick substance that is used on painful or damaged skin.
Correct Answer: ointment
Q2.
How many drawings were included in 'On the Fabric of the Human Body'?
6
over 60
Correct answer: over 600
Q3.
How did Fabricius discover that there are valves in human veins?
through book-led learning
Correct answer: through dissections
through prayer
Q4.
What did cauterisation involve?
Correct answer: burning the skin around a wound
cutting the skin around a wound
freezing the skin around a wound
Q5.
Which university was Vesalius working at when he disproved some of Galen's teachings?
Cambridge
Oxford
Paris
Correct answer: Padua
Q6.
Starting with the earliest, sort the following individuals into chronological order.
1 - Hippocrates
2 - Galen
3 - Ibn al-Nafis
4 - Andreas Vesalius

Assessment exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
What is the movement of blood around the body referred to as?
Correct Answer: circulation
Q2.
How was anatomy taught at Cambridge University in the late 16th century?
book-led learning alone
dissection alone
Correct answer: book-led learning and dissection
Q3.
Which organ did Galen claim made blood?
brain
heart
Correct answer: liver
lungs
kidneys
Q4.
Which medical treatment did William Harvey's theories seem to challenge?
Correct Answer: bloodletting, blood letting
Q5.
Which statement is correct?
William Harvey's ideas were taught in universities almost immediately
William Harvey's ideas were not taught in universities until the 1650s
Correct answer: William Harvey's ideas were not taught in universities until the 1670s
Q6.
Why did William Harvey dissect frogs as part of his research into blood circulation?
Correct answer: to observe their blood circulation whilst they were still alive
humans and frogs share the same anatomy as one another
laws prevented Harvey from conducting human dissections

Additional material

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