This contains a set of materials in order to carry out an assessment on a 'Ultimate Questions' unit. Students have to devise their own creation story, religious or scientific, and explain how different groups of people (e.g. atheists, Christians) may interpret it and their reasoning for it. This resource is easily adaptable to incorporate into a lesson or another scheme of learning.

This contains a set of resources in order to enable students to design their festival which incorporates the symbolism of light and darkness.

This resource enables students to produce a written account of Brian Keenan’s experience of being imprisoned in a cell of total darkness for an extended period of time. In particular, it focuses on the feelings and emotions of the experience, and the impact that light and darkness placed.

This contains a fully resourced, differentiated lesson on the Beatitudes. In the main part of the lesson students have to write a modern day translation for each one, explain why they are important in pairs and write an extended analysis of how they could be applied in someone's life. Learning Objectives: To describe the meaning of the Beatitudes. To explain why they are important for Christians. To analyse how these could be followed by people in their own lives.

This contains a fully resourced, differentiated lesson on the causes and effects of poverty in the UK. In the main part of the lesson students have to use a set of images to describe the impacts of poverty and then use annotate an A3 sheet with the different reasons why poverty exists in the UK today. Finally students have to come up with their own suggestions as to how poverty in the UK could be tackled. Learning Objectives: To describe the impacts of poverty in the UK. To explain the reasons why we see poverty in the UK. To begin to suggest your own solutions to poverty in the UK.

This contains a fully resourced, differentiated lesson towards one ultimate question: What is the meaning of life? In the main part of the lesson students have to use information cards to describe a range of philosophical views (e.g. Nihilism, Materialism, Religious...) towards the meaning of life and explain how it might affect the way they live their lives, and then conclude the lesson by completing a written task evaluating which viewpoint they agree and disagree with the most and why. Learning Objectives: To describe different philosophical views about the meaning of life. To explain how these philosophies can shape a persons’ life. To evaluate your personal viewpoint towards them.

This contains a fully resourced, differentiated lesson on Hindu funerals. In the starter students have to use two images to draw out initial observations about Hindu funerals. In the main this leads to an information gathering task and a symbolism task, with a GCSE style question included to assess understanding of the material. Plenary is also included. Learning Objectives are: To describe the key features of a Hindu funeral service. To explain how these features reflect their beliefs about life after death.

This contains a fully resourced, differentiated lesson which acts as an introduction to the idea of 'Ultimate Questions'. The main part of the lesson involves students working in pairs to generate their own examples of ultimate questions (using stimuli to help), a class viewpoint sharing task (which could be done as a silent conversation), and a written reflection task at the end where they evaluate various viewpoints towards one ultimate question. Learning Objectives are as follows: To describe examples of ‘ultimate questions’. To explain different viewpoints towards some of these questions. To express a reasoned and balanced viewpoint to one of these questions.

This contains a fully resourced, differentiated lesson on the Christian Creation Story from Genesis. The main part of the lesson involves drawing a storyboard to show the key parts of the story, a pair discussion task on how Fundamentalist and Liberal Christians might view the story (leading to a card sorting task of the reasons behind the views), and finally a written reflection evaluating how they believe the story is best understood. Learning Objectives: To describe the Christian Creation Story. To explain how this story is viewed by different Christians. To evaluate how you personally believe it is best understood.

This contains a fully resourced, differentiated lesson on the theory of evolution. In the main part of the lessons students complete a gap-filling exercise in order to understand how the basic theory works, work in pairs to rank different arguments (religious and scientific) on the 'Layers of Inference' grid, and finally complete an extended writing task on how convincing they find the theory based on the evidence and argument provided. Learning Objectives: To describe the theory of evolution. To explain the arguments for and against the theory of evolution. To evaluate how convincing you find the theory.

This contains a fully resourced, differentiated lesson on how babies are welcomed into the Islamic faith, otherwise known as the Aqiqah Ceremony. The main part of the lesson contains an information hunt on the different practices followed by pair-work where students have to compare the similarities and differences with Christian Baptism. Learning Objectives: To describe how Muslims welcome newborns into the Islam. To explain why these practices are important to Muslims. To compare this ceremony with the Christian tradition.

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, 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 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 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 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 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 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 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.

A fully resourced lesson on meditation in Buddhism. It includes a starter where they list their life worries and how they deal with them, in the main section a task on describing the story behind Siddhartha's enlightenment and a set of meditation exercises. In the plenary they then explain why meditation is important.