MOSI Google hangout

    We did a very cool and fun activity in history class. We did a Google hangout with a couple of guys from the MOSI museum in Manchester England. This was really incredible because we were talking to people hundreds of miles away from us and we were learning at the same time. Before we Hung out with Jamie and his coworkers, we had to prepare. To do this we checked out MOSI's website to get an idea of what they had at the museum. Also, to prepare, we watched a video where our explainer Jamie showed us some of the machines and explained them. Along with that, we used keywords that we discovered from the site to find out more info on some of the machines and come up with educated questions for Jamie.

    The Hangout ended up being a great success, I learned a lot. in particular, I discovered that the textile making process is somewhat long, dangerous and complex. there are many different machines involved in this process such as the Draw frame , a shuttle loom and a speed frame. Most of the machines worked at high speeds and had many parts, thus making them dangerous to be around. The dangers of the machines included deafness, oil that caused cancer, hair getting caught in the machines and disease could spread quickly. Although these machines were so dangerous, they did increase the production speed of textile production magnificently. The workforce in the factories was almost completely girls raised on rural farms that were looking to support their families or change their lifestyle. Because all the girls moved into the big cities, the farms suffered and many died out, not being able to compete with the mills or the large, company owned farms. There were major pros and cons the mills had and it was very interesting to learn all about them and the infrastructure of the mills from Jamie.

This is Jamie showing us the Shuttle Loom

I thought this activity was fun and engaging while still being school related. It did not feel like I was learning, more like I was having a conversation with an expert. I find it incredible that we are able to talk to these people from across an entire ocean. I would really like to do this type of thing again for a different topic, it is a very good way to learn information. I had a great time with this Google hangout, and it would be great to do another.

My experience as a museum curator

Our group's museum exhibit

       The first step in creating a museum exhibit is to analyze your sources. This is done by reading each of the sources and pulling out the necessary information. Also, we organized the documents so they would make sense when you looked at it. This is the most important part of creating the exhibit because it is where you create the basis of what you are going to share.  Our exhibit is showing how the cotton mills, although very prosperous were working because of slaves and child laborers. Our first picture shows the basis of the cotton industry, the water frame, a machine that was the most efficient to process cotton. our second station shows how the cotton industry was global, by illustrating where it was imported and exported to. Then our third part was a picture of the Boott mill in Lowell, showing the infrastructure of the cotton industry. Next we had a graph showing how many slaves there were in certain Southern states between 1770-1860. After is a propaganda picture showing how the slaves did all the work and the rich got richer. Finally, is a chart showing the cotton production in Lowell and the U.S. slave population. Our title describes how the industrial revolution brought about amazing technological advances but on the backs of slave labor and child workers. I hope people will realize that the Industrial revolution has a dark side that cant be ignored.

Looking at group A's exhibit I saw a lot of pictures about the technical part of the cotton mills. They showed mainly the machines that evolved to become what was in the mills, the spinning wheel, the Spinning  Jenny and the mechanized loom.

Group B's poster displayed how the steam engine changed our whole transportation system. The steam engine was used to create the train, which was instrumental in creating connections in industrialized countries.

Group C's exhibit showed how the Revolution was very good and very bad. They showed peoples views and observations on the revolution and showed what it did to cities such as London.

Finally, at group D's station, I witnessed how child labor powered the revolution. They showed the awful, overcrowded factories they worked in and their long work hours.

Google is more than just a search engine

        In class we checked out Google a day and the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus websites to enhance our media literacy. Google a day is a cool part of Google that has you search for the answers for obscure questions using a limited search engine. This means you are required to think about the keywords and things you search for. The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus website helped us determine what a good source was and showed us how some sites can be unreliable.

        While playing around with Google a day i discovered it was fun. Its very rewarding to see all your hard work searching for the answers pay off. However, it is frustrating at times when you've tried a million different answers and none work. I learned that you need to search a lot of different things until you find what you're looking for. Also, you can't be too specific in what you're searching for or else you won't find anything. Finally, it is important to use a variety of sources so you can be sure the information is correct.

        The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus website is a joke site for an endangered fictional creature called the (you guessed it) Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. The site's focus is to protect this "endangered" creature and it is very good at promoting its cause. three terms are used when you are trying to determine if a site is good for you to use. These are accuracy, authenticity, and reliability. Accuracy is testing whether the site's information is correct or not. Authenticity refers to if the site is actually what it claims to be. Reliability is used to determine if you could actually use the information for research. The Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus website is only authentic because it is what it claims to be, a site to protect the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. However, this information is not real and could not be used for research so it is not relevant in a classroom situation.

http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/sightings.html

Revolutionizing the world

     

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/287086/Industrial-Revolution

       What made the Industrial Revolution, revolutionary? We decided to answer this in class by reading an article about the "Ingredients for Industrial Revolution". Each group in class focused on one of the four areas of the article, Technology, People, Resources and Transportation. We then collaborated and shared our notes on each section. I decided the sections people and technology best answered the main question. 

       People made the Industrial Revolution revolutionary, by changing how food was produced, decreasing death rates and the enclosure movement. First, farmers used their land more efficiently, combining smaller fields into large ones. Also, they used improved fertilization and crop rotation methods. the last way farming was revolutionary, was a new machine called the seed drill which evenly deposited seeds in the best way possible. All these tactics improved the amount and quality of food farmers could produce. Death rates decreased mainly because of the great advancements in agriculture. There was less of a risk of famine and people ate healthier, leading to healthier posterity. Finally, death rates decreased during the Industrial Revolution because of improved medical treatments, better hygiene and sanitation.Enclosure is "the process of taking over and fencing off land formerly shared by peasant farmers." Enclosure increased the efficiency of farms and put money in the pockets of their owners, but at a cost. Peasants who formally tended the land were kicked out and forced to migrate to the cities. There they found work in the factories the Industrial Revolution is famous for. For these reasons, people were very important in revolutionizing how they lived and worked.

     During the revolution, people built machines and discovered new technology to make their lives better. For most of history, energy was provided from the muscle power of animals and humans, during the revolution, wind and water power were harnessed. Great water wheels and windmills were used to provide energy for the machines inside the factories. those machines revolutionized the clothing industry by weaving clothing faster than ever before. The Flying Shuttle worked much faster than any human could. Also, iron was improved, allowing production of machines to increase. Technology made the Industrial Revolution so revolutionary because things could be done on a huge scale and many new things were being created. 

What's the point of school?

Hello and welcome to my history blog. My name is Mark Porter and I am a sophomore at Reading Memorial High School. I will be using this blog to show the internet my experience in history class.

http://ballardhs.seattleschools.org/modules/cms/pages.phtml?sessionid=&pageid=174430

I consider a teacher great if they truly care about helping their students succeed at becoming what they want to be. Also, when teachers teach in unorthodox and interesting ways. My fourth grade teacher was great because she was very nice and she helped us if we were struggling. Great teachers help students individually and genuinely care about them. This year I would like to be able to try new things and expand my horizons.

        In this video, popular author John Green tells us student why we have to go to school. He explains that its our duty to use our education to do great things. John tells us that it is important to focus our energy into school. I agree with him, we don't go to school just because we must, we go because it shapes our future. This year I want to do well in the sports I play, soccer and Track, and I also want to maintain good grades. I am going to accomplish these goals by working hard and paying attention in school. I like this video because it let me see a new perspective on school.