This contains a fully resourced, differentiated lesson on the cosmological argument. The main part of the lesson involves students working in groups to develop a mini-presentation that can be used to teach the rest of the class one of Aquinas’s 3 ways, then some quick note-taking followed by questions that students answer to consider the strength of Leibniz’s cosmological argument, followed by students producing a factfile on how David Hume criticised the argument, then an information hunt on how other philosophers (such as Bertrand Russell an Richard Dawkins) criticised the argument (within this task students have to mark on their dartboard how strong they believe that criticism is). Learning Objectives: To outline the Cosmological Argument as a case for the existence of God. To explain Leibniz’s contribution to the argument. To assess the validity of its philosophical criticisms. (The starter activity is based upon an advert for Guinness which can be found by Googling ‘Guinness Domino’)

This contains a fully resourced, differentiated lesson on Plato's theory of forms. The main part of the lesson involves note-taking and class discussion on the fundamentals of his theory, after which they carry out an independent reading task. This is followed by students analysing the criticisms of his theory followed by a traffic light plenary task. Learning Objectives: To understand Plato’s Theory of Forms. To evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the theory.

This contains a fully resourced, differentiated lesson on Aristotle’s philosophical distinction between the body and soul. The main part of the lesson involves students having to make an educated guess on his viewpoint through an introductory quote, followed by students creating their own diagram to show Aristotle’s philosophical viewpoint, then they complete a Venn diagram comparing this view with that of Plato, before finally creating a mind map on the reasons why Richard Dawkins rejects any notion of an immortal soul. Learning Objectives: To outline Aristotle’s distinction between the body and soul. To compare the similarities and differences with Plato’s view of the soul. To assess the philosophical opinions for the rejection of the existence of a soul.

This contains a fully resourced lesson on Plato's analogy of the cave. It contains a set of activities to meet the following objectives: To describe the story of Plato’s cave. To explain how the story questions our idea of reality. To understand the symbolism of Plato’s ideas in The Matrix. Has worked very well with my classes. It is ideally aimed at KS4, but can easily be adapted for KS3.

This contains a fully resourced lesson, differentiated lesson on whether religion is important in the 21st Century. It is done by considering the fictional scenario that it has been proven that God does not exist, and therefore neither does religion. They complete a group discussion and brainstorming exercise, compile notes and produce a newspaper report on their findings. Learning Objectives: To describe the positive and negative effects of religion. To explain the possible effects of a world without religion. To evaluate whether the world would be a better place without religion.

This contains a fully resourced, differentiated lesson towards Aristotle's theory of the Four Causes. The main part of the lesson involves exploring the difference between Plato's and Aristotle's philosophy through picture analysis and a worksheet, followed by note-taking on Aristotle's Four Causes, which is then applied to a variety of objects which can be found within the world of empirical observation (with extension task). Learning Objectives: To outline the difference between Aristotle’s and Plato’s approach to Philosophy. To explain Aristotle’s theory of the 4 causes. To apply his theory to the world of empirical observation.

This contains a fully resourced, differentiated revision lesson on arguments for the existence of God, namely the Teleological Argument, Cosmological Argument and Ontological Argument. Main activities in the lesson include a mind mapping task and an essay planning task. It is designed to support the 'Philosophy of Religion' component AS-Level 'OCR Religious Studies' specification. Learning Objectives: To explain the key arguments for the existence of God. To evaluate the overall credibility of their arguments.

This contains a fully resourced, differentiated revision lesson on Greek philosophy (namely that of Plato and Aristotle). Main activities in the lesson include a mind mapping task, card sort and written task. It is designed to support the 'Philosophy of Religion' component AS-Level 'OCR Religious Studies' specification. Learning Objectives: To explain the major philosophical views of Plato and Aristotle. To assess the relative strengths and weaknesses of their ideas. To evaluate their overall credibility.

This contains a fully resourced, differentiated lesson on the Teleological (Design) Argument for the existence of God.The main part of the lesson involves a class discussion on the elements of design they can think of from the natural world and relate this to the teleological argument in a written exercise, followed by an active class demonstration of Paley’s watch analogy (you could include props such as a pocket watch!) consolidated with a card sort task, then students create their own labelled diagram (text-to-picture) exercise to show the modern reformulations of the teleological argument. An essay question is provided at the end. Learning Objectives: To outline the teleological argument for the existence of God. To explain Paley’s version of the teleological argument. To assess the effectiveness of its modern reformulations.

This contains a fully resourced, differentiated lesson on Plato's dualistic distinction between the body and soul. The main part of the lesson involves note-taking and discussion tasks on the different philosophical distinctions between the body and soul, an information comprehension exercise on Plato's approach, and lastly peer teaching of Plato's rationalist arguments for an independent soul from the body (which includes analysis and ranking). Learning Objectives: To outline the key philosophical views on the distinction between the body and soul. To explain Plato’s distinction between the body and the soul. To examine the credibility of Plato’s arguments.

This contains a fully resourced, differentiated lesson on Plato's analogy of the cave. The main part of the lesson involves students using a clip to order statements to describe the analogy of the cave, then a match-up task to explain the key meanings contained within the analogy. Learning Objectives: To describe the analogy of the cave. To explain the deeper meanings contained with the analogy.

This contains a fully resourced, differentiated lesson on Aristotle's concept of the Prime Mover. The main part of the lesson involves students generating examples to show their understanding of potentiality and actuality, a class discussion and note-taking exercise on why Aristotle believed the Prime Mover had to exist, a worksheet where students have to explain why Aristotle believed the Prime Mover had to possess certain attributes, develop explanations of key problems associated with the Prime Mover, and finally an extended writing exercise where they justify what they find to be the two most convincing criticisms of Aristotle's theory of the Four Causes. Learning Objectives: To understand the idea of potentiality and actuality. To outline Aristotle’s concept of the Prime Mover. To assess the strengths and weaknesses of Aristotle’s theory of the Four Causes.

This contains a fully resourced, differentiated introductory lesson on religious experiences. The main part of the lesson involves students produce a spider diagram showing William James’s criteria for a religious experience, working in groups to complete a grid task showing its different types (i.e. mystical, corporate, conversion, visions and voices) and then link it back to William James’s classification scheme for analysis (how these examples meet some or all of his criteria), finishing off with a fun and innovative plenary. Learning Objectives: To describe the meaning of a religious experience. To explain the various categories of religious experience. To analyse whether they meet William James criteria for a religious experience.

This contains a fully resourced, differentiated revision lesson on different scholarly views towards ther distinction between the body and soul, such as Plato and Dawkins. Main activities in the lesson include a group Venn diagram task and essay planning task. It is designed to support the 'Philosophy of Religion' component AS-Level 'OCR Religious Studies' specification. Learning Objectives: To compare the philosophical views towards the distinction between the body and soul. To assess the overall strength of their positions.

This contains a fully resourced, differentiated lesson on how the teleological argument can be challenged, namely on three grounds: moral (John Stuart Mill), logic (David Hume), and scientific (Charles Darwin). The main part of the lesson involves students working in groups to produce a teaching tool based on their allocated challenge (use poster paper, ensure they also make their own copy), from which they then teach the other groups about their challenge. This leads into a written task where students write a model conclusion to an essay question on the challenges facing the teleological argument. Learning Objectives: To explain why David Hume, Charles Darwin and John Mill rejected the teleological argument. To assess the effectiveness of their objections. To evaluate the overall strength of the teleological argument for the existence of God.

This contains a fully resourced, differentiated lesson on why and how Aquinas believed analogy provided the only meaningful way to describe God. It contains a series of short discussion and written exercises to meet the following objectives: To outline why Aquinas rejected the use of using univocal and equivocal language to describe God. To explain why Aquinas believed analogy could help us to describe God. To evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of this approach.

This contains a fully resourced, differentiated observation revision lesson on religious experiences, aimed at the new OCR AS Religious Studies A-Level. Learning Objectives: To explain philosophical viewpoints towards religious experiences. To assess the strengths and weaknesses of their views. To evaluate whether God provides the best explanation for religious experiences.

A fully resourced lesson on the main problems associated with miracles, with particular reference to the Bible. Two key theistic responses are then analysed and considered in the plenary. I hope you find this helpful- any comments would be great!