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9th grade · Social Studies · Unit 3 of 13

The Industrial Revolution

Steam, factories and new ideas

What your child practices

Inventions and labor conditions of the Industrial Revolution in Europe, the growth of cities and classes, and the ideas of capitalism, utilitarianism, socialism and Marxism (Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill, Robert Owen, Karl Marx).

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 9.4 · how the Industrial Revolution changed Europe's economies, societies and politics

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Coal-powered steam engines drove the Industrial Revolution. The factory system brought workers to machines in one place.
  2. Hard conditions led to new ideas: Robert Owen’s model town; Mill’s utilitarianism (the greatest good for the greatest number).
  3. Capitalism lets private owners run industry; socialism wants society or government to control it. Marx and Engels wrote The Communist Manifesto.

Example: What did Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels write? They argued workers should take control of industry. Their 1848 pamphlet was The Communist Manifesto. Answer: The Communist Manifesto

The Industrial Revolution in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 3 of 13 in 9th grade Social Studies, after The French Revolution & Napoleon and before Nationalism, 1848–1914.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Capitalism is an economic system in which…

    • kings own all land
    • the government owns everything
    • there is no money
    • private owners run businesses for profit

  2. Question 2

    Robert Owen built a model factory town at New Lanark, Scotland, to show…

    • that factories should close
    • that child labor was best
    • that better conditions could still be profitable
    • how to start a war

  3. Question 3

    The main fuel of the Industrial Revolution was…

    • solar power
    • coal
    • uranium
    • natural gas only

  4. Question 4

    The Industrial Revolution began in…

    • France in 1500
    • China in 1900
    • Spain in 1600
    • Great Britain in the late 1700s

  5. Question 5

    Socialism is the idea that…

    • there should be no rules
    • markets need no limits
    • society or the government should own or control major industries
    • only kings should own land

  6. Question 6

    David Ricardo's labor theory of value says a good's value comes from…

    • its color
    • the king's order
    • its age
    • the labor needed to make it

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