Idaho Social Studies 6-12.US1.51
The Standard
Evaluate the impact of industrialization and laissez-faire policies on labor.
Idaho Content Standards: K-12 Social Studies · Growth of Industrial World 1877-1890 (Bridge with US History II)
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students explain how factories and railroads changed jobs, wages, hours, and safety. They look at how limited workplace rules affected workers and why workers formed unions or went on strike. They weigh job opportunities against working conditions.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can name a job opportunity created by industrial growth and a cost workers faced, such as long hours or injury. They can use the 1877 railroad strike to explain how wage cuts led to protests. They can explain that limited workplace rules did not stop officials from sending troops against strikers.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may assume that more jobs meant better pay and safer work. They may also think a hands-off economic policy meant the government never got involved in labor disputes.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: In 1877, railroads cut wages, and officials sent troops against strikers. How did industrial growth and government policy each affect railroad workers?
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs cards marked factory job, wage cut, long shift, few safety rules, strike, and troop response; have them build a cause-and-effect chain.
Ask students to write: If officials send troops to stop a strike, are they staying out of labor disputes? Explain.
Sort factory pay, wage cuts, long shifts, and injury risks into worker benefits or costs; have students defend each choice.
Compare the pay, hours, and safety rules in a current job posting with an 1880s factory job card.
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