Scientific Revolution · 1660-1727

Newton and the age of experiment

In London a club of curious men meets to test ideas by experiment. Students explore the Royal Society, Isaac Newton's laws of motion and gravity, and how the new science travelled from Cambridge and Greenwich across Europe.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
13–16
On the map
3 steps, AD 1665 to AD 1700
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

In London a club of curious men meets to test ideas by experiment. Students explore the Royal Society, Isaac Newton's laws of motion and gravity, and how the new science travelled from Cambridge and Greenwich across Europe.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Explain what the Royal Society did and why experiments mattered.
  • Describe Newton's idea of universal gravitation in simple words.
  • Locate Woolsthorpe, Cambridge, London and Greenwich and explain their importance.
2

Explore the map

12 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 1665

A farm and a university

Open the map in 1665 and zoom in on eastern England. Find Grantham, near Newton's home at Woolsthorpe, and Cambridge to the south-east. Newton went home when plague closed his university. Why could that be a lucky break?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1700

A city of science

Zoom in on London and turn on the Cities layer. Around 1700 London was one of Europe's biggest cities. Why would a large trading city be a good home for a science society?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1700

Science across borders

Zoom out over Europe in 1700. Find Hanover, where Newton's rival Leibniz worked, and Paris and Leiden, where Newton's books were read and argued over. Why did ideas cross borders even in wartime?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

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

  1. The Royal Society's motto means "take nobody's word for it". Why is that a good rule for science?
  2. Newton said the same force that makes an apple fall keeps the Moon in orbit. Why was that such a big idea?
  3. Newton and Leibniz both claimed to have invented calculus. How should such disputes be settled?
  4. Newton also spent years on alchemy and religious study. Does that change how you see him?
  5. Edmond Halley predicted that a comet would return in 1758, and it did. Why did that convince so many people?
4

Game round

9 min

Play a round of Rule History as Frederick the Great, who brought the mathematician Leonhard Euler to his Berlin Academy of Sciences. Discuss: what does a ruler gain from having famous scientists at court?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

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