Modern Medicine

HistoryAQAGCSEUnit: Medicine Through Time
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The basics

Setting the Scene

📖 Setting the Scene

In 1953, Watson and Crick discovered the structure of DNA, the code of life. In 1967, Christiaan Barnard performed the first heart transplant. In 2003, the Human Genome Project mapped all human genes. Medicine has advanced more in the last 70 years than in the previous 2,000. We can transplant organs, edit genes, fight cancer with targeted drugs, and scan inside the living body. Yet new challenges emerge: antibiotic resistance threatens to return us to pre-penicillin mortality; lifestyle diseases like obesity and diabetes are epidemic; an aging population strains healthcare systems.

▶ DNA Discovery, Crash Course (12 mins) ▶ Antibiotic Resistance Crisis, TED-Ed (5 mins)

Exam tip

Earn the mark scheme marks

📝 Exam Technique: Thematic Study Overview

For "How much change?" essays across the whole period:

  • Change: From Four Humours to DNA; from bleeding to antibiotics; from miasma to germ theory; from fee-paying to NHS
  • Continuity: Some things persist: public health still depends on government; individuals still make key discoveries; technology still drives progress; health inequalities persist
  • Rate of change: Slow (medieval), faster (Renaissance), accelerating rapidly (1850 to present)
  • Key turning points: Germ Theory (1861), Penicillin (1928/1944), DNA (1953), NHS (1948)

  • 🏫 Edexcel Medicine in Britain, c1250 to present (Paper 1, Option 11): This topic is tested in Paper 1 Section B (the thematic study), alongside the Western Front historic environment in Section A. Edexcel question types differ from AQA:

    • Section B, Question 3 (similarity or difference): Compare how two things were alike or different over time, using specific evidence from both. Questions normally span at least a century. Describing features is tested in Section A, the Western Front historic environment, not in the thematic study.
    • "Explain why..." (12 marks): Explain two or three reasons with specific evidence. Level 3 (7 to 9 marks) requires explained reasons; Level 4 (10 to 12 marks) requires explanation showing how factors connect or reinforce each other.
    • "How far do you agree that..." (16 marks + 4 SPaG): Extended writing. Two sides: evidence FOR the statement, evidence AGAINST. Reach a supported judgement. Level 4 (13 to 16 marks) requires a consistently argued judgement. SPaG marks reward accurate spelling of key historical terms.

    Date range note for Edexcel: Edexcel's specification is titled Medicine in Britain, c1250 to present. AQA's thematic study, Health and the people, runs from c1000 to the present day. Check your own specification for exactly which recent developments are named.

    Now try it yourself

    Quiz · Question 1 of 8

    In which year did Watson and Crick discover the structure of DNA?

    Tap an answer to check it

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