Unit 2: Industrial Revolutions
Essential Questions:
- What was so revolutionary about the Industrial Revolution?
- How did the Industrial Revolution transform human existence?
- Why did the IR take place in Britain first?
- How have humans responded, historically, to technological innovation?
- Does technological innovation increase our quality of life?
Content:
- The Agricultural Revolution in England, with particular attention paid to enclosure
- The technological developments of the Industrial Revolution
- The reasons for the emergence of the IR in England and the reasons this did not occur elsewhere
- The social impact of the IR, particularly on the working and middle classes
- The economic principle of creative destruction and the manifestation of this in the Luddites and elsewhere
- Creative destruction today
Skills and Processes:
*Thinking critically
*Writing coherently and analytically
*Reading accurately and critically
*Speaking articulately
*Listening carefully and respectfully
Assessment:
- Mini-interview and presentation
- Article report on creative destruction
- Formal essay and presentation, based on individual research project
- Active reading and discussion
Resources:
- Hobsbawm's Industry and Empire
- Acemoglu and Robinson's Why Nations Fail
- Weightman's The Industrial Revolutionaries
- Breunig's The Age of Revolution and Reaction
- Other excerpted books, primary source documents, and online resources