MOSI Live Google Hangout

       We have been learning about the poor living and working conditions for the child laborers during the Industrial Revolution.  To further our study, we were able to video chat with a historian who works at the MOSI Museum of Science and Industry in the UK.  His name was Jamie and he had lots of knowledge on the topic we were learning about. To prepare for the chat with him, we explored the website of the MOSI Museum and we looked up the terminology for words that might come up during our discussion.  Some of the terms included roving, peed frames, sliver, draw frame, and carding engine.  Also, in preparation for our chat with Jamie, we watched a video of him talking about his job and what he does.  We then created questions to ask him during the discussion.

      Throughout the course of the discussion with Jamie, I learned tons of interesting information on the Industrial Revolution.  First, I learned that as a whole, the textile process was extremely dangerous.  Little children were brought in to work at the mills and factories in gruesome, unsafe conditions.  The main job for the young ones was to clean the machines, while they were moving!  It is ridiculous that the machines couldn't have been shut off for a few minutes while they were cleaned to avoid the risk of the children getting severely injured.  Next, I learned that overlookers at the mills would have to convince the parents of the children to allow them to come live in the boarding houses and work in the mills.  In some cases, adults would pay for orphans to go work in the mills instead of sending their own child because they didn't want to take any risks.  The industrialization of textile production had a huge impact on families.  On the positive side, the families were able to make more money and everyone was able to work.  However, there were a lot more negatives to the industrialization of textile production.  Before the industrialization of textiles, families had their own looms in their houses.  They were used to all living together and working from home.  The idea of going to work in mills and factories wasn't very exciting when they were already so adapted to working from home.  Most importantly, families didn't like the idea of their young ones working in the mills living on their own, with the risk of getting severely injured.  Jamie certainly knows our history and I'm glad we were able to video chat with him to learn about the Industrial Revolution!

Spinning Loom.  (MOSI Museum Live Chat).

This is the machine that the children had to clean while it was running.  Those white pieces spun at a rapid speed and the children had to put their hands in them with a cleaning tool.

     Overall, I really enjoyed chatting with Jamie and learning all of the information he told us.  I thought it was a great idea to talk to an outside expert about what we are learning in class.  Now, I know a lot more about the topic than I feel I would have if we learned without the help of an expert.  In the future I would definitely like to do stuff like this for other units.