Grade 8 Lesson at a Glance: Chapter 9, Lesson 1

Houghton Mifflin Social Studies
A More Perfect Union

Lesson at a Glance
Chapter 9, Lesson 1: The Industrial Revolution (pp. 254-260)

The Big Idea
Framework Concept: Technology The introduction of machinery altered the way goods were produced and the way people worked, lived, and traveled.

List and discuss the transportation improvements from hard-surfaced roads to railroads. Then create a similar list of the changes that occurred in the production of goods. Ask students to compare these changes and discuss their effects on people's everyday lives.

Create a cause-and-effect chart showing how one change (such as improved transportation) could cause another (such as farm families struggling and available for mill jobs) which, in turn, caused another (greater production of cheaper goods.)

Lesson Outline
Use the Lesson Outline to preview the content of the lesson. You may wish to print it for your students as a guide during reading.

Check for Understanding

Have each student choose (or you assign) an industrial or transportation development, such as interchangeable parts or the steamship, described in this lesson. Have the student write the development at the top of a paper, and then list as many effects of the development as possible. Have students compare answers and discuss.
Ask pairs of students to work together to draw a picture showing how interchangeable parts that are exactly the same could make production of goods faster and more efficient. To get students started, you might suggest a product, such as a shoe, and the part, such as the sole.

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