Running head ASSIGNMENT 1B: LITERATURE REVIEW TIPS

Assignment 1B: Literature Review “Tips for Teaching about the Industrial Revolution”

Marissa Jadrosich-Forgét

National University: TED 690 Capstone Course

Professor Daniel Weintraub

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Abstract:

This is a literature review on Tips for Teaching About the Industrial Revolution. The

author offers activities to make learning more engaging within this topic using student’s

interests. He feels by using student’s interests he can make the topic more engaging for students

and something that they will remember beyond the classroom.

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Today’s students have vast amounts of information at their fingertips. Additionally,

children have constant gratification, meaning that in most cases they have an electronic device

that anytime they are bored they can log into a device and entertain themselves. Due to these

reasons, to gain a student’s interest, teaching historical content must be relevant and entertaining.

The days of students memorizing names, dates and events are long gone, and being able to make

connections on historical information is becoming the norm.

The second article I have chosen for my literature review is about making content

relevant to today’s students. This article focuses on the unit of the Industrial Revolution.

For students to learn, they need to be able to be engaged in the topic, as well as, be given

opportunities where these students can make connections between what they are learning and

their lives. A teacher is essentially answering the question why should I care and how does this

apply to my life today for every student. This author states: “If we want our students to be

engaged, we need to talk to them about things that they care about . . . For many of our Year 9

students, life revolves around a gadget, be it a smartphone, a tablet or a laptop” (Doron, 2017,

56). The goal would be to take the things that they care about, use these things to design a

lesson, and teach that lesson, why will make the content more meaningful for them.

The author discusses how instead of using a simulation on the factory system, there are

better ways for students to learn about the importance of the Industrial Revolution and make it

meaningful for them. He suggests using the movie on Charles Dickens’ novel, Oliver Twist

because the video would appeal more to the students of today. Rather than just showing the

movie, he suggests asking the teacher to stop during certain scenes and have students discuss

what they are seeing in the video. By showing the video, students are visually seeing the effects

of the Industrial Revolution and not just sitting in a simulation. I do slightly disagree with the
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author in this respect, because I think you can make the simulation relevant to them today,

depending on how a teacher would plan the activity. I like showing of the video, Oliver Twist,

because I think that this is a good depiction of the time period and can help student conceptualize

the concepts. However, I would not discount the use of the simulation if a teacher could make

the activity relevant for today.

Other ideas that the author as into making content relevant for the student is to use video

games. Video games are something that students can relate to, because it is something, they may

participate in on a daily basis outside of school. It is fun so students are engaged more, and it is

relatable for them. “When playing a game, students can assume the identify of a historical

figure, make choices and then see the outcomes of the interplay of those choices”. (Doron, 2017,

58). By playing this game, students can make choices and see the outcome of those choices all

within the timeframe of the Industrial Revolution. Students then can write an essay on, their

decisions, outcomes, why they made certain decisions and what they would do differently the

next time (reflection). One of the things that makes this activity so powerful is that the author is

using things that his students care about to learn about the content material. By doing this, he is

making the subject matter comprehensible to his students.

Today, due to the increase of mobile devices and the emphasis on entertainment, I design

my lessons in a way that will not only be relevant to today’s student, but also use many different

mediums to help students learn the content. As I plan my lesson, I try and plan activities that

will not only entertain my students, but also plan activities that are relevant to their daily lives.

Not everything is a game or a hands-on activity, but I do try and mix-up the activities so

something that is fun for them is mixed in with something that could be deemed uninteresting.
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Reference

Doron, R.Y. Tips for teaching about the industrial revolution. Agora. 25(4). Retrieved from

file:///Users/marissaforget/Downloads/ContentServer%20(1).pdf.