Page 76 - Copshaholm Curriculum Book_2015

The Industrial Revolution: The Growth of America’s Production System 2

3. Day 3: Speeches and slide show
4. Day 4: Continue speeches and slide show (if necessary).

a. Mini lesson: What is a revolution? Read some of The Jungle by Upton
Sinclair. Explain and explore about social class during the Industrial
Revolution (good place to talk about Victorian Etiquette and Social
Manners—located in this packet of material); tell about workers and rich
people. Explain about having no government regulations on businesses.
How is this different from the government today? How much should the
government control? A good story is about the Triangle textile company
(you should be able to find this at your local library, also may be on video)
fire that killed hundreds of workers because of management’s negligence
and no government safety standards.

b. Assignment: Interview parents or grandparents…what technology did
they have in their homes/businesses? What didn’t they have when they
were your age? How much government control over business should
there be in their opinion?

5. Day 5:
a. The start of the industrial revolution. Putting Out System (hiring families in
their homes), early factories here in South Bend and the Michiana area,
Eli Whitney (interchangeable musket parts). The change from an
agricultural community to an industrial populace.

Week Two: HORRORS OF THE WORKPLACE
Goal: Students will understand how the factory workers worked and lived in the city.

Objectives for this week:
1. Become a factory worker.
2. Learn about Henry Ford and James Oliver.
3. Discover the living conditions of workers and owners.
4. Compare the workplace of yesteryear and today.
5. Explain the rise of unions.

Activities:
1. Day 1: Henry Ford and James Oliver (for the history of James Oliver and the
Oliver Company, see the Oliver history section in this booklet)
a. The Ford assembly line
b. James Oliver’s patent and his plow factory
c. Give directions for tomorrow’s activity
2. Day 2:
a. Assign places on the “assembly line”
i. You can align the desks in rows
ii. Each student has a specific piece of a product (use your
imagination-could be as simple as a paper car/plow or plastic
model)