Scientific Revolution · 1543-1642

Copernicus, Galileo and a Sun-centred universe

A Polish church official puts the Sun at the centre of the universe; an Italian professor points a telescope at the sky and finds moons circling Jupiter. Students follow the new astronomy across Europe and discuss Galileo's trial in 1633.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
11–14
On the map
3 steps, AD 1543 to AD 1500
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

A Polish church official puts the Sun at the centre of the universe; an Italian professor points a telescope at the sky and finds moons circling Jupiter. Students follow the new astronomy across Europe and discuss Galileo's trial in 1633.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain the difference between an Earth-centred and a Sun-centred model of the universe.
  • Locate the places where Copernicus, Tycho Brahe and Galileo worked.
  • Explain why Galileo was put on trial in 1633 and what that shows about science and authority.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1543

Copernicus's country

Open the map in 1543 and find Toruń on the river Vistula, where Copernicus was born. Which state is it in? Then follow the Vistula north to the Baltic, where he worked.

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1600

Astronomers on the move

Zoom out over Europe in 1600. Find the island of Hven near Copenhagen, then Prague, Padua and Florence. Which rulers paid astronomers, and what might they hope to gain?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1500

Books that travelled

Turn on Spreads and play the printing press from 1450 to 1500. Without printing, how would Copernicus's book, printed in Nuremberg in 1543, have reached Galileo in Italy?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. For more than a thousand years most scholars put the Earth at the centre. Why did that seem obvious?
  2. Copernicus's book appeared in 1543, the year he died. Why might he have waited so long to publish?
  3. What did Galileo see through his telescope that the old model could not explain?
  4. In 1633 Galileo was forced to say he was wrong. Why did Church authorities see his book as a threat?
  5. Can a scientist be right and still lose? What does Galileo's story teach about evidence and power?
4

Game round

10 min

Play a round of Rule History as Sejong the Great, who paid for new astronomical instruments, sundials and water clocks in Korea in the 1400s. Discuss: why do rulers fund science, and what happens when its findings challenge those in power?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.