Reformation: Why was there religious conflict in the 16th Century?

This great lesson has been field tested many times over the past 20 years. This version is an upgrade of the original lesson that I posted many years ago on school history. It looks at the causes of the Protestant Reformation and the ideas of Martin Luther. It is designed to suit the full range of abilities that you would find in a main stream secondary school.

The PowerPoint includes 5 activities. The first activity is a snowballing starter using all the key words in the lesson. The second activity gets students to annotate / label a medieval painting of purgatory. This will hopefully lead to a class discussion on ideas about Heaven and Hell. The third activity is to update and correct their labelling with purple pen. There then follows a series of slides and links to video clips explaining medieval ideas on relics, indulgences (Pardons) and Martin Luther’s role in challenging them. This is all done simply at a level that main stream students can understand.

The fourth activity, gets students to design their own Wittenberg Poster using Martin Luther’s ideas. This can be completed and aged for homework using tea bags or coffee and makes an excellent classroom display. 1000s of my students have completed this task and loved it!

The final activity, which might take a second lesson, gets students to compare and contrast the similarities and differences between a Catholic and a Protestant Church.

All the templates are included at the end of the PowerPoint.

The aims and objectives for this outstanding lesson are:

Theme: Why did Britain ‘break’ with Rome?
Know: Who was Martin Luther and why did he disagree with the Pope?
Understand: What are the differences between a Protestant & Catholic?
Evaluate: Why was there religious conflict in the 16th Century?
Skills: Cause, Consequence, Change & Continuity.

WILF - What Am I Looking For?
Identify and describe: the differences between a Protestant and a Catholic Church?
Explain: Why martin Luther protested against the Catholic Church?
Analyse: Why was there Religious Conflict in the 16th Century?

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Kind Regards

Roy