ERIC Number: ED444890
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1998
Reference Count: N/A
Power to Production: Activity Guide.
Massachusetts Univ., Lowell. Tsongas Industrial History Center.
This field trip program consists of a 90-minute interpretive tour and a 90-minute hands-on workshop. The tour and workshop explore the role of water power in the Industrial Revolution. On the tour, students discover firsthand the unique resources of Lowell, Massachusetts, and the Park, while the workshop brings these historic resources to life as students build their own water power systems. During the tour, students travel aboard a turn-of-the-century trolley to the Suffolk Mill where they trace the transfer of water power from canal to turbine, and along the lineshafts, belts, and pulleys to a power loom producing cotton cloth; students also conduct experiments regarding power transmission using an exhibit featuring the same simple machines that are used to transmit power in the mill. The workshop divides the students into two groups: one works in the "wheel pit" area where they build and test water wheels in a schematic water power site; the other works on the "mill race" activity in which problems arising from the design and construction of pre-canal power systems are solved. The program's activity guide presents the theme; lists program objectives; provides historical background; and enumerates pre- and post-visit activities. A glossary of terms concludes the guide. (BT)
Descriptors: Field Trips, Heritage Education, Historic Sites, Primary Sources, Problem Solving, Secondary Education, Social Studies, Thematic Approach, United States History, Water Resources
Tsongas Industrial History Center, 400 Foot of John Street, Lowell, MA 01852; Web site: (http://www.uml.edu/tsongas/).
Publication Type: Guides - Classroom - Teacher
Education Level: N/A
Sponsor: National Park Service (Dept. of Interior), Washington, DC.
Authoring Institution: Massachusetts Univ., Lowell. Tsongas Industrial History Center.
Identifiers - Location: Massachusetts