Preview · the opening missionRead this to the class:
It is 1846, in Vienna, Austria. The big hospital has two wards where mothers have their babies. On one of them, many mothers catch a fever after giving birth, and some die. On the other, far fewer do. Nobody knows why. A young doctor named Ignaz Semmelweis has just started work there, and he is determined to find out. Your team's job: open his case file, one card at a time, and find out what he discovered and how.
Teams of three, with rotating jobs: Reader (reads each card), Data checker (the numbers), Recorder (fills in the tracker).
Look inside the PDF
Sample pages, stamped “preview”. The download is the clean, full lesson.
In the full lesson PDF
8 printable pages
- Predict (5–10 min)
- Hunt (20 min)
- Reveal (10–15 min)
- Act (10 min)
- Background for the teacher
- Assessment
- Student sheet
- Worksheet: Label it
- Worksheet: Try it at home
On the student sheet
- My prediction
- Case file (one set per team, cut into eight cards, kept in order)
- Case tracker
- A letter to the doctors of Vienna, 1848
- Exit ticket
- Label it
- Try it at home
US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white. The student sheet is on its own page, ready to photocopy.
Free with an account (any 3 lessons), or US$19 for all 4 lessons in this unit.
What students show by the end
- Follows the method
- Uses the data
- Explains the discovery
From the lesson’s rubric, which scores each one as not yet, getting there or got it.
Questions teachers ask
How long does “What did Ignaz Semmelweis discover?” take?
45–60 min. Group size: teams of 3.
How much prep does it need?
10 minutes. Print the Case file (one set per team, cut into eight cards, kept face down in order). Read the Teacher note on sensitive wording before the lesson.
What materials do I need?
None. No materials needed: just the printed sheets.
Which curriculum standards does it cover?
It matches NGSS Science and Engineering Practices, Grades 3–5; England National Curriculum, Working scientifically, Years 5 and 6 and Cambridge Primary Science (not endorsed by Cambridge).
What’s in the lesson PDF?
A teacher guide that walks you through predict, hunt, reveal, act, background for the teacher and assessment, then a student sheet (“My prediction”; “Case file (one set per team, cut into eight cards, kept in order)”; “Case tracker”; “A letter to the doctors of Vienna, 1848”; “Exit ticket”; “Label it” and “Try it at home”) on its own page, ready to photocopy. It’s US Letter and prints cleanly in black and white.
Can I try it for free?
Yes. A free account includes any 3 full lessons of your choice, and this can be one of them. After that, this unit is US$19 for all 4 lessons, yours to keep, or every lesson is US$199 a year.