A Wellcome Library GCSE learning resource for Medicine Through Time

This topic offers an interesting sidelight, which school students will obviously relate to, on how different medicine and healthcare for children have to be. The problem is well posed by Source A and the figures that accompany it. Britain's slow movement towards treating children differently and safely is revealed by the rest of the sources.

The sources also offer another perspective on mainstream topics such as hospitalisation of disease, the lack of control over 19th-century patent medicines, and the rise of the power of the State.

This is one of several resources, prepared by the Wellcome Library, and designed to support teachers and learners preparing for the Schools History Project GCSE course 'Medicine Through Time: A Development Study'.

The resources are not a course in themselves, but focus on key concepts and understandings required by the course, supplementing more commonly used materials. The collection includes some topics central to the course, items that provide overviews and some topics that extend the normal range of coverage.

They can be used online or downloaded for whole classes, groups or individuals as part of a teaching scheme or for self-study. They are appropriate for candidates of any of the GCSE awarding bodies.

Notes for teachers [pdf]

Tasks for students [pdf]