Contextualization – Child Labor
STUDENT MATERIALSSTUDENT MATERIALSS-1CONTEXTUALIZATION—CHILD LABORWORLD HISTORY PROJECT ORIGINS / LESSON 6.4 ACTIVITYPreparation• Download “Child Labor”PurposeIn this final activity of the contextualization progression, you’ll use your contextualization skills to understand how and why ideas about childhood began to change during this period. People today generally think of childhood as a distinct stage in the development process to becoming adults; however, this is actually a relatively new way of thinking. By contextualizing this period, you’ll understand why these changes took place in the nineteenth century, prompting industrial societies to see child labor as problematic in a way previous societies had not. PracticesClaim testing, causationYou will use your claim-testing skills to determine the best information to use to answer the prompt and contextualize the changes that occurred regarding child labor. You’ll also examine the time period in which these changes occurred to determine what historical events or processes caused these reforms to take place.ProcessIn this activity, you’ll use the event cards to complete the Contextualization Tool, which is included in the Contextualization—Child Labor worksheet. Then, you’ll use the information from your completed tools and evidence from the article “Child Labor” to write a three-paragraph mini-essay that answers the prompt:What historical context related to the time period, location, and culture changed people’s ideas about childhood and child labor in industrialized societies?Start by sharing the images of child labor with your students while reading the passage below:Imagine you’re 8 years old and living in the nineteenth century. But instead of getting up and getting ready to go to school, you are getting up to go to work. At 4:00 AM! If you were a boy, there was a good chance you were headed off to a coal mine, where you would put in 13 hours or more. Coal mines were extremely dangerous and unhealthy with cramped passages, toxic coal dust, and explosive coal gas. And if you were a boy or girl who lived in the city, you were probably headed off to a textile (clothing) factory, also very unhealthy and dangerous. Now, that might sound awful—and to be clear, it was—but before the second half of the nineteenth century, the concept of “childhood” didn’t really exist. Children were expected to contribute to the economic well- being of the family. For most of human history, that meant helping secure and produce food. After the Industrial Revolution, it also meant mine or factory work to earn a meager wage for your family, but a nice profit for the mine or factory owner.Unless otherwise noted, this work is licensed underCC BY 4.0. Credit: “Contextualization—Child Labor”, OER Project, https://www.oerproject.com/
S-2CONTEXTUALIZATION—CHILD LABOR“Breaker Boys,” Pittston, PA, 1911. Photograph by Lewis Hine. Image courtesy of National Archives at College Park, Department of Commerce and Labor, Children’s Bureau. Public domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Group_of_breaker_boys._Smallest_is_Sam_Belloma._Pittston,_Pa._-_NARA_-_523383.jpg
S-3CONTEXTUALIZATION—CHILD LABORPennsylvania coal breakers (Breaker Boys), 1912. Photograph by Lewis Hine. Public domain.https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pennsylvania_coal_breakers,_(Breaker_Boys),_1912.jpg
S-4CONTEXTUALIZATION—CHILD LABORChildren working in a textile mill, Macon, Georgia, 1909. Photograph by Lewis Hine. Image courtesy of the US Library of Congress.https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mill_Children_in_Macon.jpg
STUDENT MATERIALSSTUDENT MATERIALSS-5CONTEXTUALIZATION—CHILD LABORWORLD HISTORY PROJECT ORIGINS / LESSON 6.4 ACTIVITYNext, your teacher will either hand out or have you download the Contextualization—Child Labor worksheet. You should be a pro at completing the Contextualization Tool, so your teacher may have you complete the full tool on your own. Start with writing the dates and locations where child labor occurred in industrialized societies (from c. 1750 to c. 1914, mainly in Europe and North America). Divide the event cards into broad and narrow context, place them on the funnel, and then finish answering the remaining questions on the tool.Finally, use your descriptions of broad and narrow context from the tool and information from the “Child Labor” article to individually write a three-paragraph mini-essay that answers the following prompt:What historical context related to the time period, location, and culture changed people’s ideas about childhood and child labor in industrialized societies?• Paragraph 1 should be an introduction to the essay that includes the broad context and the thesis statement (either at the start or the end of the paragraph).• Paragraph 2 should focus on the narrow context and include evidence that explains why people’s ideas about childhood and child labor began to change in industrialized societies in this era.• Paragraph 3 should be the conclusion with an analysis of how understanding context improves the ability to interpret changing ideas to child labor.Your teacher will collect your completed tools and mini-essays to assess your understanding of this topic and your contextualization skills.
Name:Date:Name:Date:STUDENT MATERIALSS-6CONTEXTUALIZATION—CHILD LABORWORLD HISTORY PROJECT ORIGINS / LESSON 6.4 ACTIVITYContextualization ToolDirections: Respond to each of the prompts below.1. Write the date(s) and location(s) of the historical event being studied. 2. Take the event cards and divide them up into broad and narrow context. 3. Place them on the funnel in their appropriate location. Be prepared to explain your placement. 4. Write three to four sentences that describes the broad context.5. Write three to four sentences that describes the narrow content.• Broad: Does the context represent broader themes, trends, events, eras, or regions related to the historical development at hand? Does it represent a long-term (underlying) cause or contributing factor?• Narrow: Does the context represent themes, trends, events, eras, or regions that are more closely tied in time/place to the historical development at hand? Does it help us see the short-term (immediate) causes or contributing factors?
Name:Date:Name:Date:STUDENT MATERIALSS-7CONTEXTUALIZATION—CHILD LABORWORLD HISTORY PROJECT ORIGINS / LESSON 6.4 ACTIVITY6. Write one to two sentences analyzing how the broad and narrow context help you better understand the historical event. 7. Use information from the Contextualization Tool and the article “Child Labor” to write a three-paragraph mini-essay that answers the following prompt: What historical context related to the time period, location, and culture changed people’s ideas about childhood and child labor in industrialized societies?
Name:Date:Name:Date:STUDENT MATERIALSS-8CONTEXTUALIZATION—CHILD LABORWORLD HISTORY PROJECT ORIGINS / LESSON 6.4 ACTIVITYBroad ContextNarrow ContextHistorical Event/Development