This contains a fully resourced, differentiated lesson on the work of Christian charities. The main part of the lesson consists of an information gathering and consolidation carousel group task (based on four charities, including Barnando's and the Salvation Army) and evaluating which cause they believe is worthy of support, linking their answer to Christian views towards charity and wealth. Learning Objectives for the lesson are as follows: To describe the aims of different Christian charities. To explain why their work is important. To evaluate which cause you believe is particularly worthy.

This contains a fully resourced, differentiated lesson on the world’s growing urban population (urbanisation). The main part of the lesson involves drawing a line graph to show the increase in the world’s urban population (based on World Bank Data Set) and describing the pattern using data, an interactive peer sharing task on the reasons for the growth in the urban population (they do this by explaining one reason they are allocated in the grid, with pointers to help them, and then share the information with their peers, big emphasis is placed on helping each other to develop their explanations), and lastly a written exercise assessing how influential they believe these reasons have been. To describe how the world’s urban population is growing. To explain the reasons for the growth in the urban population. To assess the importance of these reasons.

This contains a fully resourced, differentiated lesson on the arguments for and against religious experiences proving the existence of God. The main part of the lesson involves some note-taking, class discussion and written tasks to explain scholarly views for and against religious experiences, followed by an extended written reflection considering whether they believe religious experiences prove the existence of God (with focus on what makes these scholarly arguments strong or weak).

This contains a fully resourced, differentiated lesson on Savanna ecosystems. The main activities include using a range of sources to bullet point the characteristics of the ecosystem, an information comprehension task to understand how plants and animals have adapted, and a picture analysis task to begin to investigate the different challenges facing the ecosystem. It is aimed primarily at KS3 students: Learning Objectives: To describe the characteristics of a Savanna ecosystem. To explain how animals and plants have adapted to this ecosystem. To investigate the challenges facing this ecosystem.

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 the origin of our moral values. The main part of the lesson involves a discussion task on what moral values are and different examples, and a class mindmap task on the sources of our morality. Learning Objectives: To describe the importance of moral values. To explain where we get our moral values from. To analyse how these can affect the way you act in life.

This contains a fully resourced, differentiated lesson on whether miracles prove the existence of God. In the main part of the lesson students use visual prompts to discuss the different types of miracles, then work in groups to discuss and make notes on the strengths and weaknesses of two miracle case studies (Biblical - Raising of Lazarus from the dead, Modern - Miracles at Lourdes), explain two philosophical views towards miracles (linking them back to the case studies), and then finally complete a 12-mark evaluation question. Learning Objectives: To describe the different types of miracles. To explain the arguments for and against miracles. To evaluate whether miracles provide convincing proof for the existence of God.

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 lesson on why light is important to people and world faiths. The main part of the lesson consists of a spider diagram task on things that brings 'light' (happiness) into their lives, a worksheet task explaining how light is used by two worldwide faiths (Christianity and Hinduism), and finally a Venn diagram to compare their views. To understand why light is important to humans. To explain how light is used by worldwide faiths. To compare and contrast their beliefs about light.

This contains a fully resourced, differentiated lesson on how Descartes philosophical distinction between the mind (soul) and body. The main part of the lesson involves students using an information sheet to complete a table summarising the key properties of the mind (soul) and body for Descartes, as well as grading the effectiveness of Descartes responses to the initial philosophical rejections of his theory, after which they produce a fact file on Gilbert Ryle’s criticism of Descartes viewpoint. They then, as a final activity, complete a grid showing how different philosophers would respond to an essay title with evidence/arguments they might use to support. Learning Objectives: To outline Descartes theory of mind-body dualism. To assess Gilbert Ryle’s criticism of Descartes. To evaluate the overall philosophical positions on the immortality of the soul.

This contains a fully resourced, differentiated lesson on how Hindus worship, focusing on the items used in a typical puja tray. The main part of the lesson involves students firstly drawing their own puja tray and making their own suggestions as to what it might symbolise, after which they use information sheets from around the room to annotate their actual meaning to their earlier drawings, and finally complete a written reflection on how useful they believe puja trays are for Hindus in helping them worship. Learning Objectives: To describe the items used on a Puja tray. To explain their symbolism. To examine how useful they are in helping Hindus to worship.

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 lesson on the importance of studying Geography. It would act particularly well as an early lesson at the start of Year 7. In the main part of the lesson students have to generate their own responses to the question, using small case studies and prompts on the Powerpoint to guide them. This then leads to the second main task where students have to produce a piece of work persuading other Year 7's that it is an important subject to study. Learning Objectives: To explain how Geography can help us to make sense of the world. To analyse how it can affect the actions we make in life.

This contains a fully resourced, differentiated lesson on the validity of Plato's analogy of the cave. The main part of the lesson involves annotating the key symbolism of Plato's cave, to draw up a list of strengths and weaknesses of Plato's analogy (prompt sheet available), then finally recording evaluative comments towards his analogy (this will help to build analysis of the strengths and weaknesses). Learning Objectives: To explain the key symbolism contained within the analogy. To assess its relative strengths and weakness. To evaluate your opinion towards his philosophical view.

This contains a fully resourced, differentiated lesson on the Augustianian theodicy. The main part of the lesson involves an information hunt answering key questions on the Augustinian theodicy, a ranking task on the strengths of the theodicy, then a sorting task of the weaknesses of the theodicy into different categories (moral/scientific/logical), before producing a bullet-pointed essay plan on the overall success of the theodicy.

This contains a fully resourced, differentiated lesson on how to locate features on a map using four-figure grid references. The main part of the lesson involves a brief class demonstration and exercise followed by an independent learning exercise. The plenary involves students competing with each other playing battleships using four-figure grid references.

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 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.