Elizabeth Gray Our Story Summer Institute 2003
The Industrial Revolution Unit Plan
Pre-assessment: Mind map the industrial development of post Civil War era 1865-1930
This unit will deal with the period in time after the Civil War and the end of the commitment to
Reconstruction. It will focus on how America gets back into the business of making money. It
will also familiarize students with the roles for men, women, children, African Americans and
immigrants I also want to focus on how the capitalistic economy created fortunes for some and
misery for others. Or was it an opportunity for everyone to share in the American Dream?
Unit Plan Objectives.
Lesson Plan One: Overview of the Industrial Revolution:
Objectives
1. Students will be able to describe the growth of industry that caused the industrial
revolution to begin and progress from 1850-1930.
2. Students will be able to list 6 features of the Industrial Revolution.
Materials: classroom textbook, Pathways to Present
Assessments: hand in written work for evaluation.
Lesson Plan Two: Timeline of Industrial Development
Students will do a timeline from 1850-1930 looking specifically for the growth of industry.
Materials: Classroom textbook and other sources on-line.( list sources)
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Assessment: Timeline must consist of a minimum of twenty industrial benchmarks ie
inventions/inventors/laws etc.
Lesson Plan 3: What is Work?
Objectives:
Students will brainstorm the question “What is work” and why do we do it?
Students will be able to differentiate the type of work done during the Industrial Revolution
to present.
They will be able to explain how the role of work has changed over the decades
They will be able to collect data and interpret it to draw conclusions about working
conditions from the mid 1800’s to early 1900’s
Materials: various web-sites (Cite examples)
Assessment: Create a table categorizing type of work.
Lesson Plan Four: Factory Owners and Workers
Objectives:
Students will compare and contrast the lifestyles of the workers to that of the factory owners.
They will be given photographs to analyze and write their opinions on how and where the
workers and factory owners lived.
Students will view videos on Carnegie and Rockefellers
Materials: Videos, Biography of Carnegie and Rockefeller
Archival photos of factory workers at home and at work.( choose 6)
Assessment: Answer 10 questions about the videos, compare and contrast lifestyes of factory
owners and factory workers.
Lesson Plan Five: Immigration
Objectives:
Students will be able to explain why immigrants came to the USA
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Students will interview a person from a foreign country and present the interview to the entire
class as an oral presentation
Students will be provided with census data to analyze and draw a graph of immigration
during this time period
Students will also graph the various ethnic groups and the reasons they left their countries to
come to the USA.
Students will be able to describe the living conditions of the immigrants during the Industrial
Revolution.
Materials: United States Census /Paterson census. Various photographs, graph paper
Assessments: rubric for oral presentation
Lesson Plan Six: Unions
Objectives:
Students will be able to identify at least six labor Unions and their leaders during this time
frame.
Students will role play at collective bargaining, union and management after reading excerpts
from various sources and documents on the demands from workers to demands from
management.
At the end of the lesson student will be able to create a contract with input from both sides.
Materials: Historical documents primary source material on the 1913 Paterson strike.Newark
Teachers Union recent contract
Assessment: completed contract listing all terms.
Lesson Plan Seven: Strikes
Objectives:
Students will research newspaper articles and documentation from the Paterson strikes and be
able to explain why this was a necessary tool for unions to use to get better wages and
working conditions.
Students will be able to chart hours and wages that were demanded by the workers during the
strikes
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Students will create a poster advocating for the strike.
Materials: newspapers articles and documentation on Paterson strikes
Assessment: poster rubric
Lesson Eight: Child Labor
Students will be able to identify the type of work children did in the factories, mines and farms
and the wages they were paid for this work.
Students will compare and contrast the wages of adult workers and children.
Students will do a research paper on Mother Jones’s March of Children to President T.
Roosevelt’s summer home in NY.
Students will create a poem or song about why they are marching to the Presidents summer home
in NY.
Students will answer five essential questions using the primary resource Electronic NJ: A Digital
Archive of NJ History
Materials: documentation on wages and hours, for this time period. Mother Jones web-site
Assessment: List 20 occupations with hours and wages.
Lesson Plan Nine: Labor Laws
Students will research the history of labor laws in the USA
Students will be able to differentiate which laws were effective and which were ignored
Materials: web-site sources
Lesson Plan Ten: Suffrage
Students will be able list the types of jobs that were available to females during 1850-1920.
Students will be able to explain why it took 72 years for women to be able to vote in national
elections.
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Students will identify the leading reformers in the quest for the vote.
Students will read the 19th amendment and discuss the impact the vote had on politics and
politicians.
Materials: US Constitution’s 19th Amendment, Seneca Falls conventions, Declaration of
Sentiments.
Assessment: Mind map the Industrial development of the United States.
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