Printer FriendlyBring history alive for your students with a visit to the Tsongas Industrial History Center at Lowell National Historical Park. Students participate in hands-on learning activities and visit sites where history was made. These include a restored factory floor with the deafening roar of 88 power looms, a "mill girl" boardinghouse, an operating water turbine, and more. The hands-on experience makes learning both meaningful and exciting, and the power of place deepens student understanding of not only history but science, engineering, and technology, too.
Each program includes a hands-on workshop and tour and is fully guided--curb to curb. The program day is approximately four hours long.
All programs are tied to curriculum standards and developed for students in particular grades. Just click on the links below to get a full description of each program. If you can extend your visit, why not add an extra hands-on workshop, a visit to exhibits, or a boat tour in season? We will come to your classroom, too!
2009-2010 Guided School Program Fees per class of up to 30 students: $195 (No charge for chaperones --1:10 adult/student ratio required)
To Make a Reservation: Call Lowell National Historical Park at 978-970-5000.
For More Information, see Plan Your Visit.
Youth Groups: Contact us for specially designed programs for your Scout, camp, or recreation group. Or just choose from our extended-day offerings!
All curriculum packets are available for download in pdf format. Download Adobe Acrobat for free.
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Change in the Making Grades 3 and 4 Students dress in costumes of young farm and factory workers, work a cotton gin, visit the weave room and boarding house, and map changes in land use. |
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Invention Factories Grades 3-12 |
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Bale to Bolt Grades 3-12 Students weave cloth by hand, learn how cloth is woven on power looms, discover how inventions affect workers and production, and explore workers' lives. |
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Yankees and Immigrants Grades 3-12 Students become immigrants, unpack luggage & tell their stories, investigate daily life, and resolve an issue dividing Lowell's citizens. |
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Workers on the Line Grades 4-12 Students work on an assembly line, experience a loss of control over work through speed ups, react to wage cuts, and decide on a course of action. |
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Power to Production Grades 4-12 Students test water wheels, build canal systems, visit the turbine exhibit to see how water powers machines, and see a weave room in action. |
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The Industrial Watershed Grades 6-12 Students use groundwater simulation tanks to discover how pollution affects surface and ground water, and examine historical photographs at the Suffolk Mill to determine how industrialization affected the Merrimack River. |
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Riverworks Grades 5-8 Students discover ways of cleaning polluted water, test the quality of Merrimack River water, and explore how dams affect river plants and animals. |
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River As a Classroom Grades 5-8 Students perform water quality tests on the river, learn how water powered machines, identify pollutants past and present, and clean up water. |
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New! Classroom by the Concord Students tour the Concord River Greenway in Lowell, test water samples, and investigate historic reasons for the disappearance of migratory fish through lab simulations and streamside activities. Curriculum Packets Frameworks Connections Slide Show |