Focus: In this unit (Unit 5 for schools using the CKHG™ series in Sequence grade-level order), students examine the sweeping transformation in how people worked and lived during the Industrial Revolution, 1760s–1830s. This revolution, which began in Great Britain and spread to Europe and America, lured people away from the land to factories and cities in massive numbers; spurred new inventions; opened the doors to wealth and advancement for inventors and investors alike; and, led to the primacy of capitalism as a social and economic system in the West.
Students also learn that these benefits did not come without a cost. Alongside the significant growth of employment opportunities, and a burgeoning economy, there was also income inequality, dangerous working conditions, environmental damage, and political unrest. Over time, issues such as these prompted a push for social reform.
Number of Lessons: 20
Lesson Time: 45 minutes each daily. Each lesson may be divided into shorter segments.
Additional Search Terms: social studies • nonfiction• informational text • geography • map skills • steam engine • industrialization • Patience Kershaw • free market • serfdom • James Watt • Robert Fulton • John Kay • spinning jenny • James Hargreaves • Eli Whitney • cotton gin • capitalism • mercantilism • Adam Smith • supply and demand • laissez-faire • Charles Dickens • Benjamin Disraeli • Luddites • Robert Owen • socialism • Karl Marx • Friedrich Engels • The Communist Manifesto • class struggle
CKHG Grade Levels: CKHG units are correlated to topics at the grade levels specified in the Core Knowledge Sequence, which allows students in schools following the Sequence to build knowledge grade by grade. This particular unit falls in Grade 6 in the Core Knowledge Sequence. In other settings, individual CKHG units may be used as supplemental resources. In general, the content and presentation in the CKHG units for Grade 6 are appropriate for students in Grade 6 and up.
