Urbanization Game
STUDENT MATERIALSSTUDENT MATERIALSS-1URBANIZATION GAMEWORLD HISTORY PROJECT ORIGINS / LESSON 6.2 ACTIVITYPurposeThis activity will introduce you to the concept of urbanization, both as a shift in demographics and as a shift in the physical environment resulting from the rise of industrialization. By providing a narrative glimpse of how one fictional village transformed over 150 years into a city, you’ll be drawn into the chaos of rapid urban growth. This will help you begin to see how the Industrial Revolution created significant changes in human communities, how humans produced and distributed goods, and how networks began to expand. In addition, you’ll see the impacts of industrialization on the environment. Finally, this activity serves as an introduction to the Industrial Revolution, which is the central theme of this lesson. PracticesCausation, CCOTBy drawing the development of cities, you’ll be creating what is in many ways a causal map of the urbanization process. In particular, you’ll show the social and environmental effects of industrialization. In addition, you’ll identify both significant changes and continuities over that period, which will help prepare you for content and activities that develop these ideas later in the course.ProcessThis is a multipart activity that first asks you to analyze a passage from Thomas Carlyle’s “Signs of the Times,” an essay that appeared in The Edinburgh Review in 1829. Then, you’ll listen to portions of a narrative about how life changed in an English village from 1700 to 1850. As you listen to passages from different years, you’ll draw how the effects of industrialization significantly altered life in England. Finally, you’ll answer a series of follow-up questions as you examine the drawings that your group and others created. This will help you visualize how the Industrial Revolution changed almost all aspects of life for those living in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century England and beyond.Part 1Your teacher will project the following excerpt from “Signs of the Times,” an essay by the Scottish philosopher Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), published in The Edinburgh Review in 1829. Follow along as your teacher reads it. “Were we required to characterise this age of ours by any single epithet [description], we should be tempted to call it, not an Heroical, Devotional, Philosophical, or Moral Age, but, above all others, the Mechanical Age. It is the Age of Machinery, in every outward and inward sense of that word; the age which, with its whole undivided might, forwards, teaches and practises the great art of adapting means to ends. Nothing is now done directly or by hand; all is by rule and calculated contrivance [plan]. For the simplest operation, some helps and accompaniments, some cunning abbreviating process is in readiness. On every hand, the living artisan is driven from his workshop, to make room for a speedier, inanimate one. The shuttle drops from the fingers of the weaver, and falls into iron fingers that ply it faster. The sailor furls his sail, and lays down his oar; and bids a strong, unwearied servant, on vaporous wings, bear him through the waters.” Unless otherwise noted, this work is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Credit: “Activity – Urbanization Game”, OER Project, https://www.oerproject.com/
STUDENT MATERIALSSTUDENT MATERIALSS-2URBANIZATION GAMEWORLD HISTORY PROJECT ORIGINS / LESSON 6.2 ACTIVITYThen, have a discussion about how Carlyle describes the changes that took place during his lifetime by answering the following questions. • What was Thomas Carlyle’s point of view regarding life in Europe in the early part of the nineteenth century? What evidence did you use to arrive at that answer?• Using the excerpt by Carlyle, how do you think life in Europe changed over time (politically, socially, and/or economically speaking) by the mid-nineteenth century? Part 2Your teacher will organize the class into pairs and pass out paper, markers, and a template to each pair. First, your teacher will read short narratives about life in a small English village from 1700 to 1850. After each narrative is read, you’ll draw various elements of the village, following your teacher’s directions and using the template to determine the size and shape of the icons used. These include dwellings, canals, roads, railroads, and schools, among others. Note that the template should be used for reference and you won’t be graded on your artistic abilities, we promise! After your teacher has read all of the narratives and you’ve finished drawing, you’ll post your work on the board for everyone to see. Take note of any similarities that you see between your drawing and those of the rest of the class.Part 3To wrap up this activity, you’ll examine the board full of drawings and the lesson experience to define the term urbanization. Then, answer the following questions and be prepared to discuss them with the class. 1. Define the term urbanization based on what you now know about industrialization in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.2. Write three questions this activity raises about urbanization in England from the eighteenth to the nineteenth century.3. What can you now add to your list from before the activity about how life in Europe changed over time (politically, socially, and/or economically) by the mid-nineteenth century?4. What do you think the central themes of this unit will be?5. Why do you think the Industrial Revolution is considered a major turning point in world history? Explain your reasoning.