Museum of Science and History Google Hangout

To prepare for this MOSI Google Hangout, we first went to the museum's website. We clicked around and checked out what they had. We then watched a video from Jamie, our Explainer, who showed us some of the machinery and gave us some key terms, like power loom. We looked up the words on Google so we would know what we were being shown when we actually did the chat. We also drafted some questions to ask Jamie, like "How did these machines really revolutionize industrialization?"
I learned how dangerous mill conditions really were. Seeing the machinery and how unsafe they were to be around (especially for children) is a lot different from talking or reading about it. Children's hands could become mangled from cleaning the speed frame, which (accurately named) whirled around violently; someone could easily become injured if they weren't paying attention or were tired. Disease was spread quickly because women had to pull string through a hole with their mouths, which spread germs easily. Families were sometimes separated when children went to go work in the mills; sometimes entire families were able to move closer to the mills in order to get goods more quickly and easily than if they had made them themselves. However, a lot of good came out of the Industrial Revolution and the mills. Goods became faster and easier to produce, and technology and transportation began to advance. The power loom meant less workers at that machine and more products sooner.
I really enjoyed the chat. First of all, it was cool to talk to someone in a completely different country in real time about something we were learning in class. It was really interesting to see the old machines in action and it was a really good visual as to what the mills were like during the Industrial Revolution. Honestly, the only thing I disliked was the lag in the video, but that's expected when you're talking to someone "across the pond". I would definitely do it again or on other topics because it was a great visual and helped my understanding a lot more by watching an expert demonstrate than reading about it.

Stolen Childhood

For this project, we got into groups and each group had a different subject of industrialization that they had to analyze documents on and curate a museum exhibit on it. Our group had child labor as our subject. We had to analyze documents on child labor and observations of the Lowell mills. 

Analyzing the sources was a very important part of our exhibit. We were able to figure out what the conditions were and what child labor laws were in effect at the time. The Factory Act of 1833 prevented children under the age of 21 from working at night. In "Observations of Young Bobbin Girls", it was said that it was risky for young girls to work there without female supervision; however, parents had no choice but to send their girls. In the three pictures with placards, extremely young children are shown performing ridiculous and dangerous tasks like pulling carts underground, sometimes with leather belts around their waists. Finding out the age distribution of children in the cotton mills was interesting as well as important because we used that to decide on our title. The majority of children started work when they were under ten years old. They had no time to enjoy the things that kids should be doing at that age, like playing catch or spending time with their friends. I hope people understand how truly cruel children were treated and what they had to endure during the Industrial Revolution when they see our exhibit.

From one group, I learned that without slaves there would not have been any mass production during the Industrial Revolution. They were like a crew backstage during a play; the unseen players that were an important factor to industrialization. I learned that industrialization seriously impacted families from another group. With factories now mass producing with machines that outpaced families' production, they were forced to move closer to factories in order to have a source of income, which resulted in a population boom in London in the late 1800s to early 1900s. I also learned that transportation evolved drastically during the Industrial Revolution. Traveling by sea became easier with the introduction of the steam boat, and eventually transportation was available for use by everyday people. However, many people were forced to live in slums after over-industrialization caused a housing problem. Rivers were also polluted by the sudden addition of factory waste to them. Industrialization is an important part of where we are today, but it caused some serious issues during the Industrial Revolution.

Industrialization: One Part Technology Plus One Part Transportation

For this project, each group had an "ingredient" of industrialization to focus on. The ingredients were people, resources, technology, and transportation. Each group had to look up key terms pertaining to their ingredient and answer our essential question (What was 'revolutionary' about industrialization?) by explaining what their ingredients did for industrialization.
Technology was a key element in industrialization. The steam engine, invented by Thomas Newcomen and improved on by James Watt, was the first to harness electrical energy by burning coal. It became a key source of electrical power that powered factories, trains, and boats. Iron was improved upon by the Darby family, who were able to remove the impurities to make it cheaper and stronger. This made iron more reliable, especially for use on train tracks. Before the Industrial Revolution, people used the "putting out" method to weave. John Kay solved that problem by creating the flying shuttle, which made weavers work faster and outpace spinners. In 1764, James Hargreaves invented the spinning jenny, which spun multiple threads at the same time. This solved the problem of the weavers outpacing the spinners. A few years after the spinning jenny was invented, Richard Arkwright invented the water frame and sped up spinning by using water power.

spinning jenny

steam engine

water frame

Without transportation, these revolutionary inventions would not have been able to spread. Steam boats and steam locomotives were newer versions of old vehicles, improved upon by being powered by stream engines. Suppliers no longer had to rely on rivers to transport large quantities of goods and people who didn't live in cities near rivers were able to get goods and supplies more easily than before. Transportation became faster and cheaper, and cities were able to grow. Trade of perishable goods over long distances was made possible. Canals, bridges, harbors, and turnpikes were made and railroads soon became widespread. Without transportation, this new and faster technology would not have been able to get anywhere.

steam boat

steam locomotive

Pictography

http://www.saburchill.com/history/chapters/IR/images/091107012.jpg
http://www.portlandfiremuseum.com/images/steam_engine.jpg
http://www.mainlesson.com/books/bachman/inventors/zpage096.gif
http://portal.norwalkps.org/schools/tracey/PublishingImages/History_of_Norwalk/steamboat.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Steam_locomotive_IS20-317.jpg

It Takes Ten-tickles (and Other Riddles) to Make an Octopus Laugh

In class we did activities that taught us how to search and use valid information from the internet. We started by doing A Google A Day. We then came up with definitions for accuracy, authenticity, and reliability and explained how each one was important. Finally we looked at the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus website to see whether it was accurate, reliable, and authentic.
A Google A Day was frustrating because the questions were phrased in a way that it wasn't easy to look up the answer. You had to search a couple different things and correctly put them together. However, it was fun because it was almost like a scavenger hunt: each piece of information was a clue, and you needed the fist clue to find the next. At times it was like a wild goose chase, but it showed us how you have to check more than one source and use keywords to get accurate information. Check out A Google A Day here: http://www.agoogleaday.com/#game=started
Each group had to come up with their definition of accuracy, reliability, and authenticity. Accuracy is how correct the information is. It's important that you're using accurate information when doing a research paper. A website is reliable if it has a history of being accurate or is by a trusted source, like PBS. Authenticity is how original information is or if it hasn't been taken from another source. We had to go to the website for saving the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus and see if it was any of those three things. It was a pretty entertaining website because it had photos of toys in trees and reported "sightings". Therefore it was not accurate. The author of the website wrote his own little biography and the information is a little "out there" and we have no idea if it's true because he wrote it himself; therefore, it was not reliable either. However, the website was authentic because it was doing what it said it was doing: raising awareness for the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. Check out the website and save the tree octopus from extinction here: http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/

The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus awareness ribbon http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/tentriblarge.png

Education is a Gateway to a Better Future

I'm a sophomore in high school. We spent the first couple days of history class discussing the best ways people learn and how important the quality of your teacher is to your education.

I think a great teacher is one who gets to know students and their habits or ways of learning. He or she needs to be someone I can go to when I have questions or need help on a project. I know we need to learn to be independent, but I think it''s important to have a strong leader who's willing to help you stay on track. When I think of teachers I've had in the past, my favorites stand out to me because they taught in a way I could understand. They were all supportive and open-minded, and were able to help me in a way that I understood better but didn't feel like they had done all of the work for me. This year I hope Ms. Gallagher can support me by being there when I have questions and giving me advice on how to improve my skills.

 The other day we watched a John Green video about his views on public education. He believes we should use our education to accomplish great things. I agree with him because the world is advancing very quickly and our generation needs to keep up and continue the advancements. It's sad when kids don't get the opportunity to go to school or even drop out because they probably have brilliant ideas in their heads but they aren't able to share them with the world. When I think of goals I want to achieve, I think of the SMART goals we made last year in our advisory class for each class and extracurricular activities. I wasn't able to achieve all of my SMART goals last year, so I'm going to carry them into this year. Some of my goals were to be able to write a great lab report and put more effort into literary analysis papers. I also wanted to shorten my mile speed in cross country. I think I'll take baby steps to achieve my goals because I know I can't do it overnight. Getting a B+ instead of a B or shaving 3 seconds off my time would be smaller achievements leading up to my bigger goals that I would be happy about. In the end, it's all about being proud of what I can do instead of stressing over what I can't.

Photo: Education International http://www.ei-ie.org/en/websections/content_detail/6722

Check out the John Green video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x78PnPd-V-A&feature=youtu.be