MOSI Google Hangout

In order to thoroughly prepare for our chat with Jamie, a historian at the MOSI (Museum of Science & Industry) in Manchester, England, our class had to do a bit of research to thoroughly understand and appreciate all of the new information we would receive during the live video chat.  We started off by taking some basic notes on the "textile gallery" website, and learned some basic but important facts about the textile industry, how it changed, and who and what was crucial in making it a success.  For example, my group and I discovered that weavers used different techniques and methods to create textiles such as braiding and weaving, and that there were many different designers in creating the textile designs, like Jacob Dimoldenberg, Harry Rodwell Prince, Randall Paine, and George Ainscow.  We also learned a bit more about the Arkwright water frame, and found out that it produced 100% cotton cloth, opening up new markets for cotton fabrics.  After taking these notes from the website, we watched a video that Jamie created which outlined for us what each machine did in the process of creating cloth, and how the machines are related to each other.  We wrote down all of the important vocabulary terms that he brought up (hopper feeder scutcher, carding engine, etc.) and looked up what they meant on Google after the video was finished.  Finally, we thought of questions to ask Jamie that were relevant to either the museum itself, or different aspects of the textile industry; for example, one of my group's questions was, "How long did it take to produce cloth?"

I learned so much more about the textile industry by being able to personally talk to a professional in the area.  Overall, the textile industry changed quite a lot over the time of the Industrial Revolution.  In the beginning of the revolution, most families each owned a hand loom which they used to create all of their own clothing; looms were so important that they were passed down from generation to generation, they were the most important and expensive item families typically owned.   As factories started to take over and home hand looms were no longer needed, men, women, and children alike began to work in the factories.  Working in the factories was "piece work", meaning that the more cloth the workers produced, the more they were paid.  Jamie elaborated more on the different jobs within the factories, and what he told us was shocking.  The only people in the factories who were paid were the spinners (men), many women worked as piecers, having to walk up to 20 miles per day to complete their duties, and many children were scavengers, who crawled under the machines and cleaned underneath them.  This is just one representation of how badly some children were treated in the factories, because the littlest children were given the jobs that required the least amount of skill, but were extremely dangerous, such as cleaning the belts.  Many children got stuck on the metal studs used to repair the belts, and were carried up, usually resulting in severed limbs or completely mangled bodies.

Drawing of a piecer and a scavenger at work in the factories

I believe that I learned a lot from having an outside expert teach us about the topic.  Being able to personally communicate with him was also very important, because we could ask any question that we wanted to, and he would be able to answer it very descriptively and precisely.  One problem that we faced which became frustrating at times was the problems with internet connection, which made us have to take a longer time to actually look around the factory and be able to communicate with Jamie.  I would love to be able to do a similar live video chat later in the year with another expert!

Becoming a Museum Curator

During the past few classes, we've had the opportunity to become like a museum curator by being given information about the Industrial Revolution, and then having a to research, organize, and make an eye-catching display about our topic.  My group was given many different articles and sources about the transportation at the time of the Industrial Revolution, and had to arrange them in a certain way.  Our group decided to organize them chronologically, in order of which inventions came first, and which were most important at what times.  We started with a general timeline regarding transportation and the evolution of it, then moved on to information about the canals in Britain, followed by information about  the steam engine, railroads, and the controversy over the building of railroads, finally ending with the invention of the steam boat.  We also made the theme of the display about Thomas the Tank Engine from childhood books and television, because it connected directly to the theme of transportation and the steam engine, and also would interest young children if we were creating the display for a real museum.  We thought that it was very important for visitors to take away the idea of the evolution of transportation and how much it changed over time and improved in such a small amount of time, which is why we started off with a general overview of the changes in transportation, and went in order from the earlier inventions to the later ones to show how much more advanced they got.

I learned many important pieces of information about different topics through observing and taking notes on all of the other groups' displays.  Based on the "Spinning Wheels to Power Looms" poster, I learned that people had looms in their own homes and made their own clothes before the power looms were created.  This must have really affected the local economy because people would have had to pay much more for clothes from factories than from creating them with their own materials.  From the "Living in Filth" poster, I not only learned that the factories were seriously polluting the cities in which they were located in, the people working in them were also paid far less than what they were supposed to.  This is extremely important in showing how hard it must have been to break the poverty cycle at that time because people couldn't make enough money to pay for their everyday necessities and still be able to save up money for the future and other purposes.  Based on the "Broken Children" poster, I learned that most parents refused to send their children to factories originally, but poverty forced parents to send their children there to work and make more money.  This shows just how desperate the families' situations must have been to make them send their children to such horrible and dangerous conditions.  Finally, I learned from the "More Cotton, More Slaves, Less Freedom" display, that after the textile industry took off, the rate of slavery climbed rapidly too.  This shows just how hard it was for the people in that time period to have a successful economy without increasing slavery because with more product produced, there was more work required to produce it.
As you can see, there were many ways in which the Industrial Revolution changed America a lot, in some situations for better, and in some, for worse.

The Beginning of Modern Day Technology

The Industrial Revolution was truly revolutionary, not only for the time period that it took place in, but also by today's standards considering how much the inventions from the time still affect us today.  In class we were split up into groups and given an informational article about a specific branch of inventions or important areas of innovation at the time of the Industrial Revolution, and took notes on the article to learn more about that topic.  Once all of the groups had their information gathered, we went around to each group and every group presented, while the other groups took notes on the information.
One extremely important aspect of the Industrial Revolution was the improved transportation.  The steam locomotive was a crucial piece of new technology which helped improve the quality of life for people at the time.  The steam locomotive was a steam-powered train that pulled carriages across land, and was extremely important in trade so that people could send goods across long expanses of land.  This invention allowed people to be able to outsource and receive materials they needed or wanted from other areas, and allowed small towns to be less dependent on one another for all supplies.  Similarly to the steam locomotive, the steam boat was also created and served the same purpose as the steam locomotive but in water.  The steam boat was not only better for long distance travels across the ocean, but also was able to carry much more weight in goods than wooden ships could (10-20 times the wooden ships' amount).

Steam locomotive.  Black and white picture.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_locomotive_class_IS

People were also a central piece of the Industrial Revolution and allowed it to succeed and thrive as much as it did.  The farming was far improved during this time period for many reasons, one of them being that the Dutch made earthen walls to reclaim the land from the sea, resulting in more food.  The farmers also utilized techniques like fertilizer to make more food per farmer.  However, many farmers eventually started using the enclosure which took over and fenced off peasant farmers land, forcing them to move to the cities, making the cities much more populated, but allowing the creation of machines to flourish by having many people working in the factories.
As you can see, many factors contributed to the success of the Industrial Revolution, and their contributions allowed the possibility of technology and ideas of innovation to translate into today's world.

The Importance of Accurate Information

Many say that learning by doing is the most effective way to learn different material, and today in history class, we did just that.  In order to truly understand how to find sources that are accurate, authentic, and reliable, we did different activities and visited different websites which helped us to be able to identify scholarly resources and which signs to look for in a website which may show that they are not reliable.  Using information that fits the three different criteria of being accurate, authentic, and reliable, is crucial in doing research because if you have inaccurate or unauthentic information, not only will you get a poorer grade, you'll also be spreading that false information on to others.

A Google A Day is a website which gives you different questions to answer using the Google search engine that is timed, making it in a game style.  It's very useful in practicing effective ways of searching the Internet to get the correct information, and the most detailed information on the topic you're looking for.  There's even a tips and tricks section which helps teach you about different techniques on searching the Internet and gives you examples so that you can better understand how to apply the tricks into your future search endeavors.  You can even visit the website yourself and try playing as well at http://agoogleaday.com/#game=started

Accuracy, authenticity, and reliability are the three important criteria which we use in identifying if a source is scholarly to use, and are all extremely important.  Accuracy is the quality of the information and if it's all correct and true.  Authenticity is if the website is what it claims to be about.  Reliability is if the source is certified or trustworthy in the area that the have published the information about.  We visited a website in history class about the "Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus" http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/, and discovered that it would not be a website we would be able to use for a school related project or paper.  Although the website is technically authentic because it is all about the "Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus" as it said, it is not accurate because the information is all untrue, and is not reliable because the creator the webpage is not knowledgeable in wildlife or ecology at all. 

Trying New Things

My name is Regan Lynch, and as a high school student, I feel as though the most effective way for teachers to teach is in finding a balance.  Balance is crucial in teaching, especially in high school, because you have a far larger amount of work so having said that, you must be motivated to complete all the various tasks you're given.  In my experience, if the teacher gives their students a large amount of work, but the work doesn't interest the students, the work quality will be lower, and the students will be far less likely to do it and do it well.  But, on the contrary, if a teacher never buckles down and makes their students work, the students will never be prepared for the larger amount of work to come in the future.  So, in order to give the students enough work so that they're prepared and hard-working, but still are interested in the work they're doing, the teacher must maintain a good balance between fun and work.  In Honors History 10 this year, I feel as if it will be really helpful to me to do all of the different projects that you've planned using technology, because it's more fresh and interesting to do projects with lots of different materials and in different ways.
I completely agree with John Green's philosophy about my duty to use my education for the greater societal good, which reminds me a lot of the idea that I've recently heard,"to whom much has been given, much is expected."  I completely believe that I have an obligation to help change the world with the information I have been given throughout my education, and to give back to society for giving me the opportunity to have such a great education.  Academically this year, I really hope to strive to get all A's in all of my classes.  Even if I don't meet this goal, I want to know that I worked as hard as I possibly could have to receive that grade.  I want to work extremely hard, and make sure to stay motivated throughout all of my academic ventures this year and make sure that I don't take the easy way out.  I want to continue to try and get my homework and projects done ahead of time to continually stop my habit of procrastination. Sports-wise, I reached my goal of being on the JV volleyball team here at RMHS, but I want to further my goal-setting by striving to become a leader and captain on the team.  I also want to continue my work in the Drama Club by trying out for the winter and spring shows. Regarding clubs, I may want to join Model UN again for my sophomore year, or audition for Improvosaurus, the school's improvisational theatre group. In order to achieve any of these goals regardless of what categories they may fall into, forcing myself to go outside of my comfort zone is going to be what allows me to reach them.  In academics, that may mean staying after and having to ask for help and becoming proactive regarding my learning.  In sports, I'll have to communicate a lot and take control of the court, even though that can be intimidating.  In extra-curricular activities, that will mean that I will have to force myself to try out for something although that can be scary; if you never try, you'll never give yourself the opportunity to do something that could become a life-changing experience.  I will apply the exact same attitude to this upcoming year in Honors History 10, and I can't wait to learn and try lots of new things!