Unit Overview

Homework # 1 - Overview of the Global Economy

Overview Reading - click here

Planet Money Makes a T-Shirt - click here

Printable Copy of Homework Questions - click here

Classwork # 1 - Factory Town Activity

Link to Instructions for Factory Town Activity - click here

Link to Google Spreadsheet for Factory Town Activity - click here (this is a read only file - you need to make a copy of it)

Link to Google Spreadsheet Explainer - click here

Link to Factory Town Activity Map - click here

Homework Assignment After Playing the Activity - click here

Class Discussion - Thinking about "Big Picture" of Global Economy

Longitudinal Study Approach to History

This unit is designed to be a model of the way longitudinal studies are used to understand history. Longitudinal studies involve studying a specific type of change that takes place over a long period of history to learn about the deeper forces that affect economic events. Many major events in history, such as wars, revolutions or social changes, are driven by deeper forces that exert influence over a long period of time. This means that knowledge of these deeper forces are important to understanding historical events.

This unit covers the period of modern economic growth that began with the First Industrial Revolution and continues today. The forces of modern economic growth are an important background story to the events in the modern world, European Imperialism, the World Wars, Cold War Conflict and independence movements around the world. The material covered in this unit will be a constant reference point for all the other units that will be covered in this class - knowledge of this unit is important to fully understanding those units.

Classwork # 2 - Google Sheets and Visualizing Data

Unit Skill - Working with Visual Information and Developing Visual Literacy

Visual communication is becoming more important due to digital communication. The reality is that visual forms of communication, such as maps, charts, graphs, diagrams and timelines, can be a more efficient than writing in many situations. In this unit, the class will work with different types of visual communication as part of a process of developing visual literacy skills. Literacy is about the ability to communicate through reading and writing words. Visual literacy it is about being able to communicate reading and creating visual images. As the chart to the right shows, visual literacy is about working at the point of intersection between thinking, understanding and skills. Similar to all skills, developing visual literacy is about learning by doing.

Data visuals are the way numerical data is presented in an understandable way. In general, it is hard for people to see the "big picture" when reading data presented in numerical form. Data visuals put numerical data into a picture format that is more understandable.

In this activity, you will using Google Sheets to turn historical data into different types of data visuals. The chart shows the three types of data visuals and how each one is used.

Examples of Different Types of Data Visualizations

Parts of Charts - When making a data visual it is important to include all of the following information:

Title describing the visual
Legend or Key to reading the visual
Labels to provide context for the data
Source of data presented in the visual

Leaving out any of this information will make your data visual less effective.

Data is useful in explaining large changes in a society, such as the way Britain was transformed by the Industrial Revolution. In this activity you will be using Google Sheets to make several data visuals using data from the Industrial Revolution.

This is a Guide to Using Google Sheets - click here

This is a link to the assignment - click here. You should open the assignment and then copy it to your Google Drive.

Links to Data Sets:

Data Set # 1 - Capacity of All Steam Engines

Data Set # 2 - Average Cost of Producing Cotton

Data Set # 3 - Size of Textile Mills in Manchester

Data Set # 4 - British Place of Work and Urban

Data Set # 5 - British Income Per Person

Data Set # 6 - British & French Cotton Consumption

When you have completed the assignment read the instructions about how to turn in the assignment.

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