Mr. Reiter’s WebQuest
The
Industrial Revolution
Child
Labor Abuses
Newsflash!
Sounds crazy? Impossible? Well this is exactly what life was like back
in the 1800s during the Industrial
Revolution.
As the Industrial Revolution
progressed and more factories were built, it was necessary to employ as many
workers as possible in order to keep the factories working, 24 hours a
day. Men, women, and children of all
ages were hired to work in the factories.
The men and women worked at jobs that utilized their skills to best
support the factory. Children were used
for various jobs including those jobs that adults could not do. Jobs that required a small person, with small
hands and fingers, were filled by children.
Jobs that required a person to fit into a small space or be able to
reach into small, tight places such as the space behind or inside a machine to
replace a worn part, were filled by a child.
“… about a dozen children
died during the two years and a half that I was there. At the mill where I worked last, a boy was
caught in a machine and had both his thigh bones broke and from his knee to his
hip the flesh was ripped up the same as it had been cut by a knife. The boy
died. Another time, a young girl had her
hand bruised, her eyes were nearly torn out, and her arms bruised. . I do
not know if the girl is dead, but she was not expected to live.”
This
was an actual account from a person who worked in a mill and told these stories
to a government investigation committee.
The hours were long,
the pay was low, and the conditions were dangerous and unhealthy. Women and children were paid less than
men. Children did not go to school. They worked 6 days a week. Sometimes the
work day could be as much as 16 hours long.
By the time you got home, you had barely the time to eat dinner and get
some sleep before having to go back to work.
The family spent very little time together. Life was hard.
You are living in
Your task is to
write a newspaper article
about the abuses of child labor in the factories
(or
iron and coal mines) during the 19th century in
The article will be
a part of your project package.
- Your newspaper article should be 3 full pages, 3
column newspaper format.
- Include pictures.
- Your article should describe the types
of working conditions, the dangers, the long hours, and any other
conditions you can list.
- “Interview”
some workers and include their comments in your article.
- Suggest some changes
that you think should be made.
- How will these changes improve the
conditions and the lives of the children.
Step 1:
You
will be assigned to work in a group of 3 people. You will use the worksheets described in the
Public Policy Analyst worksheets to record your research. These worksheets can be found using the links
below and are to be used to complete your project.
Use
the following guidelines to prepare your news article.
·
Research
the websites
·
Gather
your information from the websites, your textbook, class notes, and handouts
given to you in class
·
Use the 5-step public
policy approach
2.
Gather your evidence
for the problem.
3.
Determine the cause
for the problem.
Step2:
In
preparing your article, each member of your group will contribute information
on the following worksheets:
·
Discuss
the problems dealing with the abuses of children in the factory system.
·
What
were the causes of the problem.
·
What
policies were put in place to address the problem.
·
What
were the results of these policies.
·
Did
these policies solve the problem.
Step 3:
Your
newspaper (project package) should look
like:
·
Begin
with a front page with a heading of your topic, the names of you and your
group, and a picture related to your article.
·
Type
your article, without spelling errors, using a 3-column newspaper format. If you SAVE your work on a diskette we can
display and present your work in class. There will be additional credit for SAVE’ing to the disk.
·
Include
the newspaper name, London Daily Worker
·
Include
pictures
·
Include
interviews
·
End with
a bibliography of the sources you used.
·
Include
your worksheets as part of your final project package.
·
Websistes related to the Industrial Revolution and Labor
abuses
The Life of the Industrial
Worker in Nineteenth Century England
Many records of
testimony by workers at various Parliamentary investigations.
The Life of the
Industrial Worker in 19th century Britain
Excerpts from several primary
documents relating to working conditions in
Working
Conditions in 19th century Britain
Excerpts from several testimonies of working conditions in
Contains links to several sites about the lives of
workers as well as the social and political effects of the Industrial.
Revolution
Working Conditions during
the Industrial Revolution
Primary source documents related
to working conditions and legislation passed by the British government.
An Act to regulate Labor of Children in mills and factories
Information about the Factory Act of 1833 and
the Mines Act of 1842.
Sadler
Commission "Testimony: Child Labor in England"
Testimony from someone
who worked in a factory at a very young age.
Protest Movements
of the Industrial Revolution
Several sites about protest groups such as the
Chartists and Luddites.
·
Websites
related to modern-day Labor abuses
Spotlight on
Indonesian 'sweat shops'
Child Labor abuse today – Sweat Shops in S.E. Asia
– Nike sponsors Tiger Woods.
Stop-traffic]
News/Asia: Asia's sex trade is 'slavery'
Children and women being used as part of a
“new slave trade”.
|
Category |
Not Acceptable |
Needs Improvement |
Satisfactory |
Good |
Excellent |
|
Completion
of the worksheets (understood the social problem, its causes, and public policy that arose from it) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
|
Facts
Used (facts based on documents,
website links, other sources) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
|
Completion
of News article (had correct format, stated
and analyzed the social problem, created and considered possible solutions,
and evaluated the historical solution) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
|
Oral
Presentation (communicated the information
clearly and enhanced with pictures and illustrations) |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
Your
grade will be determined as follows:
Grade of A, you need a total of
17-20 points.
Grade of B, you need a total of
13-16 points.
Grade of C, you need a total of 9-12 points.
Grade of D, you need a total of 5-8 points.
Grade of F, is less than 5 points.
Curriculum Standards:
This
WebQuest responds to the followings curriculum standards:
Social Studies:
2:1,2:2
The
student will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their
understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments and turning points in
world history, and examine the broad sweep of history from a variety of
perspectives.
4:1
·
Explain
how societies and nations attempt to satisfy their basic needs and wants by
utilizing scarce capital, natural, and human resources.
·
Understand
how scarcity requires people and nations to make choices that relate to costs
and future considerations.
·
Understand
how people and nations need to respect human rights.
English Language Arts:
1:1
·
Interpret
and analyze information from websites in the Internet and other sources.
·
Compare
and synthesize information from different sources in the Internet and other
textbooks.
·
Speaking
and Writing.
·
Relate
new information to prior knowledge and experience.
By working on this project, you will
have learned:
(1) to evaluate the impact of the Industrial Revolution on the
lives of the working class in nineteenth-century
(2) to
describe the role played by the workers and reform groups in pressuring the
government to enact laws to improve conditions in the factories
(3) to assess
the effectiveness of various government legislation in bringing about change
(4) about the
history and background of the industrial revolution, the factory system, and
labor abuses to children