This is a lesson plan to do a Nobel Prize Lesson about women who changed science and were awarded the Nobel Prize. The material is suitable for students from 13 years and up. The purpose of this lesson is to enlighten students about 19 female Nobel Laureates in science and to discuss and learn more about their groundbreaking achievements.

The lesson package consists of:

• A teacher’s guide
• A 5-minute introduction video about the Nobel Prize (see below)
• The digital resource “Women who changed science” about 19 female Nobel Laureates
• A student worksheet to facilitate the student’s discussions

Time required

The entire lesson package takes about two 45-minute or one 90-minute class hours to complete.

Preparation

• Divide the class into groups of 3-6 students.
• Every group gets one scientist each. Choose, depending on the number of groups, which of the 19 female Nobel Laureates you want the students to focus on.
• Make sure the link to “Women who changed science” work in your classroom.
• Prepare copies of the student worksheet to every student.

Warm-up

Ask your students what they already know about the Nobel Prize.

Optional: Show this 5 minute video about about Alfred Nobel and the Nobel Prize.

The Nobel Prize has been awarded since 1901 “for the greatest benefit to humankind”. More than 900 individuals and organisations from more than 70 countries have received the prize. Only 5% of the recipients are women. In this lesson, we focus on some of them to learn more about their ground-breaking work in science.

Student assignment

Divide the class into groups of 3-6 students each. Give each group one of the 19 Nobel Laureates to each group. Give to each group:

• the student worksheet
• one of the 19 female scientists

Concluding discussion

Let each group present something they thought was particularly interesting to the rest of the class.