Context for Gothic literature: science and religion in the 19th century
I can explore important contextual ideas that impact Gothic literature, focusing on the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution and Charles Darwin’s ‘On the Origin of Species’.
Context for Gothic literature: science and religion in the 19th century
I can explore important contextual ideas that impact Gothic literature, focusing on the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution and Charles Darwin’s ‘On the Origin of Species’.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
Key learning points
- The Enlightenment period represents a philosophical shift in thought, whereby reason and rationale were celebrated.
- There was an emphasis on learning the ‘truth’ about things; people thought this would bring them knowledge and freedom.
- The Industrial Revolution occurred in Britain in the 18th century, and then again in the 19th century.
- Galvanisation is the process of using electricity to try to create life.
- Scientific advancements were contested by religious people, who dismissed them as heresy.
Keywords
Innovation - the process of coming up with new ideas or inventions
Industrial Revolution - the period in which industries began replacing manpower and physical labour with machinery/technology
The Enlightenment - the period in which people began to value reason and rationale as a means to pursuing truth, knowledge and freedom
Rationale - a set of logical reasons for a belief or idea
Galvanisation - the process of using electricity to try generate life
Common misconception
Students often think that scientific advancements have always been celebrated.
In reality, scientists faced a lot of backlash for their ideas, mostly because many of them contradicted the teachings of the Bible.
To help you plan your year 8 english lesson on: Context for Gothic literature: science and religion in the 19th century, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your year 8 english lesson on: Context for Gothic literature: science and religion in the 19th century, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 3 english lessons from the A monster within: reading and writing Gothic fiction unit, dive into the full secondary english curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Content guidance
- Depiction or discussion of sensitive content
- Depiction or discussion of violence or suffering
- Depiction or discussion of serious crime
Supervision
Adult supervision required
Licence
Lesson video
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