Monday, November 9, 2015

Industrial Revolution Project

The class will be divided into 5 groups. The groups will research one of the following: the telephone, the gramophone, the automobile, steel, or the textile industry. There will be 5 days of computer use in class.
The group will be responsible for (3) Journals, (1) timeline with agenda of each day, one (2) two page essay, and a presentation.
Instructions for Essay (35 points)
2 pages, typed, double-spaced. 12 point, Times Roman font. Citations in the same style you use in English class (minimum 1).
The purpose of this essay is to attempt to answer the investigative question: Why was this industry the most beneficial to Americans? You will need to introduce your topic in the context of the aftermath of Reconstruction. What was the state of the nation at this time period? What necessities led to the invention they are discussing? Who were the major players who introduced the new technologies? What major events surrounded the creation of those inventions?
Be sure to include quotes from interviews, books, or articles in their essays. Also be sure to refer to primary and secondary sources, quoting or describing them in support of your argument.
Instructions for Presentation (35 points)
Presentations may include but are not limited to the use of PowerPoint, Prezi, poster boards, videos, audio recordings or other methods approved by the instructor.
Each team member should participate in the presentation and explain the team’s research methods and work procedures. The presentation should attempt to answer the investigative question. Each group should take questions at the end of their presentations.
The presentation will be graded using the rubric from the Civil War project (without the number of slides requirement)
Group 1: Telephone
Observe A.G. Bell’s telephone patent notes and make predictions about the subject and year they were produced. What device are these notes referring to? Who might these notes be going to? What is the purpose of writing this information down? What year was this made?
This circular from 1879 details the controversy surrounding the true inventor of the telephone. Read an discuss the following questions at your table:


·Who was the true inventor of the telephone?
·Why did it matter who was granted the patent?
·What was at stake if one man lost the patent?
·How were telephones used in everyday life?                    
Group 2: Birth of the Recording Industry: Berliner’s Gramophone
This chart by Emile Berliner details the parts of his Gramophone. Browse his scrapbook to see how an inventor pieced together his work.
Here you can listen to one of the earliest sound recordings available at  the Library of Congress.
·         What type of jobs might have been created with the introduction of sound machines?
·         How were gramophones used in everyday life?
Group 3: Automobile
Here you can browse through pictures highlighting how the Ford car evolved over the years. This cartoon of a horse crying while riding in a car suggests the end of horses as the primary means of travel. Analyze the cartoon. This drawing shows that the idea of the ‘car’ goes back to the early 19th century.
·         Why did the models of Ford’s cars change over the years?
·         Who was most affected by the change from horses to cars?
·         What type of person worked for the automobile industry?
·         How were cars used in everyday life?
Group 4: Textiles
Analyze this cover of Harper’s Weekly showing a woman working in a factory. What is meant by the title? What might ‘New South’ mean? Does that give us any clue to when this might have been made? Analyze the working conditions and the child labor of the 19th and 20th centuries here:
·         What were the dangers of working in a textile factory?
·         How were textile products used in everyday life?
Group 5: Steel
Read this brief detail of steel in Pittsburgh. Andrew Carnegie built his wealth with his steel company and here students can read a brief biography of the magnate. This timeline of The Homestead Strike of 1892 displays the unrest and unfair treatment in the Pittsburgh steel companies. This sheet music shows what the common man thought of working conditions in the factories. The Pullman Strike of 1894 was carried out by railway workers protesting lower wages and unfair working conditions. President Cleveland supported the Pullman Company and sent in federal troops to break up the strikes.
·         What were conditions in a steel factory like?
·         How was steel used in everyday life?

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