KS2 KS3 Tudor History: Martin Luther and the Reformation in Europe

In this lesson, students will study the causes, events and impact of the Reformation in Europe in the early 1500s. The lesson focusses on the actions of Martin Luther and explains the main criticisms that some people had about the Catholic Church. The lesson then covers the differences between the Catholic and Protestant Church and methods of worship.

This lesson can either be used in a unit of work about the Tudors and Henry VII/VIII or as a stand-alone lesson covering the Reformation.

This is a fully resources lesson which includes a warmup, starter task, engaging background information, various learning activities, challenge tasks and learning reviews.

The lesson includes the following:
Slide 1: Title slide – The Reformation
Slide 2: Outline of the main lesson aims
Slide 3-4: Lesson Warm Up – What was the role and importance of the Church in Christian society before 1500? Picture based activity.
Slide 5-6: Background Information about the importance of the Church in the early 1500s.
Slide 7: Discussion Question – Why did the Roman Catholic Church have so much influence over people by c.1500?
Slide 8-9: Starter Task: Printing Press Illustration and background information about the impact of the printing press on religion.
Slide 10: Background Information about the actions of Martin Luther
Side 11-12: Background Information about the main criticisms of the Roman Catholic Church and Reformation.
Slide 13-14: Activity 1: Place the differences between the Catholic and Protestant Church in the table. Answers given.
Slide 15: Useful clips and further reading links
Slide 16-17: Printable fact sheet with questions
Slide 18: Activity 2: Creative Historical Writing Task – A letter from Martin Luther
Slide 19: Activity 3: Historical Source analysis
Slide 20: Follow Up Challenge Tasks
Slide 21-23: Learning Review – Key Term Match Up & Definitions

I would be grateful if you could leave a review for the lesson if you feel the lesson is effective for you. Many thanks if you spend some of your valuable time doing this and your feedback is highly valued.

All images used in this lesson are in the public domain and are therefore copyright free at the time of publishing. Images which require attribution have been attributed in the notes section of each slide where the image appears. If you feel any errors have been made, please contact me at raschoolresources@gmail.com in the first instance to resolve any issues. My lessons are completed using PowerPoint and designed on widescreen formatting. Thank you.