Topic: Industrial Revolution Unit

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Grade/Subject: 8th Grade US History

 

Author:

 

Essential Questions:

  • Did the Industrial Revolution strengthen the United States or did it help divide the country?
  • Did the Industrial Revolution only benefit the North, or were there advantages for the South as well?

 

Unit Opener : Picture Puzzle

 

Materials – Transparencies (13 B?) – Picture of daily activities in a factory and a plantation

 

Directions: Place covered picture of a plantation on the overhead. Reveal one small area at a time allowing the students to guess what is going on in the picture. Once the picture is entirely revealed have students answer the following 3 questions.

Where do you think this is happening? North or South

What type of economy is being practiced in this picture? industrial or agrarian

Which types of socio-economic classes are displayed in this picture?

 

Repeat the process with the factory picture.

 

Wrap Up – Have the students answer the following question in a paragraph.

 

Where would you rather work? Why?

 

 

Unit Sections

Factory vs. Plantation

New Inventions/New Problems

Protection of New Economy

 

Assessment Tool : Culminating Project

Write a newspaper editorial using the headline Industrial Revolution: Friend of Foe?

 

Requirements:

  • Create a title for your newspaper (ex. The Globe Express) and the city it is published in (ex. New York).
  • Include 5 inventions from this period and explain how the benefited or harmed society.
  • Quotes from at least 2 famous inventors or public figures of the time. (ex. Eli Whitney, John C. Calhoun)
  • Information about the tariffs created to help the new factories.

 

Instruction/Activities:

 

The Worlds of North and South – Factory vs. Plantation

History Alive Visual Discovery (Lesson Guide 2; pgs 61 – 63)

 

Adaptations:

  • Remove Act it Out/Add Touch the Image/ Write a Caption
  • Inventions/Problems Infomercials [See Handout A]

    Arrange the students into pairs and assign them an invention or problem to research. They will then present their information to the class in the form of an infomercial, no longer than 30 seconds. The infomercial must include: 1)Invention 2)Use 3)Impact 4)Inventor 5)Example (prop or drawing) As each group presents the other students must write notes on the inventions.

 

Preview – Comparing Personal Experience with Key Concepts

Have the students complete a list of 5 machines or inventions they could not live without and some potential problems caused by those machines. (pollution, injuries).

 

Graphic Organizer – Notes

Inventions/Problems [See Handout B]

 

Process – Acrostic Exercise [See Handout C]

Using the word invention, write an acrostic that describes the impact of inventions during the Industrial Revolution, making sure to include positive and negative aspects.

 

Experiential Exercise : Tariffs [See Handout D]

Arrange students in four groups (Factory Owners, Plantation Owners, British, Congress).

Try to keep the first three groups to 4 or 5 students. In the last group, the Congress, have at least 8 students each representing an actual state. The northern states should outnumber the southern ones.

 

There will be 4 rounds during this experience and each group will receive a new direction card at the beginning of each round. The students will sell or buy certain items and their reactions will be shared in a session of Congress. Candy represents money and the students will be told that they can have the candy at the end to motivate them to keep as much as possible.

 

Round One: Before 1828

During the 1st round British goods are coming over and competing with factory goods from the north, price of cotton is good for the south, the government needs money and the north doesn’t like competition with Britain.

 

Round Two: 1828

During the 2nd round the Tariff of 1828 is passed which will allow the government to make money and help with competition in the north. The price of cotton goes down and British goods are more expensive

 

Round Three & Four: After 1828

During the 3rd and 4th round the North realizes they can raise prices and still keep them less than the British, cotton prices are still low and Britain is buying less because of high price of their goods. South is suffering from high prices but can not get changes made in the government because a greater number of representatives are from the north.

 

Graphic Organizer – [See Handout E]

Have students create a T-chart connecting the classroom experience with historical reality. Cut apart each bullet and have students find their match. As we discuss as a class the students will record the information on their t-chart.

 

Process – Perspective Piece

Draw a simple representation of a factory owner and a plantation owner and list their different perspectives on the advantages and disadvantages of the use of tariffs.

 

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