How can I write a successful answer to a
comparative question?
LOs
TBAT explain the differences between Level 1,2 & 3 answers
TBAT assess and correct sample student work
TBAT write and assess a sample comparative question
Mark scheme
Level
1
Marks
1-2
2
2-5
3
6-8
Description
Describes the importance of one of the features, e.g. a
factor or an individual or an event
Limited factual detail
Answers that comment briefly on both features
OR
Answers that consider the importance of one feature in
depth
Answers that explain and evaluate both features
Detailed examples are used to illustrate points
The work is well organised, e.g. topic paragraphs and a
conclusion
 Your task
Give the students a level according to the mark scheme above
Extension
Show them how to improve their work and give them some targets for development
Which of these factors contributed more to the fight against disease in the Middle Ages?
 Christianity
 Islam
Student A
Islam clearly contributed more to the development of medical progress in the Middle Ages.
The work of key Arab doctors such as Rhazes shows this to be true. He clearly identified the
differences between some diseases, such as smallpox and measles.Arab people also built
hospitals and developed new drugs to cure illness. They also gained the knowledge of other
people who they traded with, such as the Persians and Indians. Baghdad was a centre for
ideas about medicine and treatments. Scholars collected the works of ancient doctors like
Galen and translated them into Arab. This way their knowledge was preserved and spread
around the Arab world. Avicenna gathered much of this knowledge together in a book known
as the Canon, which was like an encyclopaedia of all medical knowledge of the time and
was used by doctors for hundreds of years, not just in the Middle East.
Student B
Arab people were taught to care for the sick. They had lots of hospitals and used prayer and
herbal remedies. Many famous doctors developed new ideas. Likewise, in Christian towns
and cities, the Church paid for hospitals to care for the sick. Nuns and monks would work in
these hospitals.
Student C
Islam allowed medical progress through the work of Rhazes, Avicenna and Ibn an-Nafis.
Rhazes identified the differences between smallpox and measles in about 900 AD. The
Muslims built hospitals and developed new drugs and chemicals to cure illness. They used
alchemy, an early form of chemistry, they purified drugs such as alcohol and recognised its
powerful effect on the body. They found senna and opium. Avicenna listed over 760 new
drugs. In cities like Baghdad, which were major trading hubs, they shared ideas with other
trademen and doctors and developed their knowledge further. Baghdad became a main
centre for collecting and translating texts.
Similarly, he Christian faith also made some important contributions to the treatment of
disease. New hospitals were founded such as the Hotel Dieu in Paris, and lepers hospitals
were built across the country in towns and cities. These were often run by monks and nuns
and paid for by charitable gifts to the Church. However, the Christian Church tended to focus
on care for the sick rather than developing new treatments. The development of new
knowledge was carefully controlled by the Church. For example, when Roger Bacon
suggested that people do their own research rather than trusting the work of Galen, he was
imprisoned. The Church also controlled the training of doctors in the new medical schools
such as Salerno and Salamanca.
In conclusion, although Christianity and Islam both placed importance on caring for the sick,
it could be argued that Islam contributed to the greatest advances in the treatment of
disease, by helping to identify different types of diseases and drugs to cure them.
 Your task
Which individual contributed more to the treatment of disease?
 Paracelsus (1493-1541)
 Edward Jenner (1749-1823)
 Extension
Plan an answer to this question comparing periods…
Which period saw the greatest advances in the treatment of disease?
 Ancient Greece
 The Industrial Age