All of our programs have been reviewed to ensure their relevance to state and national standards. (See Education Program descriptions.)

Read about the Bale to Bolt field trip.

State Curriculum Frameworks

Massachusetts State Standards

Grade 5 – Social Studies

  • Topic 1. Early colonization and growth of colonies
    • 7. Compare and contrast the living and working conditions of enslaved….
  • Topic 4. The growth of the Republic
    • 4. On a map of New England, locate cities and towns that played important roles in the development of the textile and machinery industries … in the 18th and 19th centuries and give examples of the short- and long-term benefits and costs of these industries.

High School – U.S. History 1

  • Topic 3. Economic growth in the North, South, and West
    • 2. Analyze the effects of industrial growth throughout antebellum America, and in New England, the growth of the textile and machinery industries and maritime commerce.
      • a. the technological improvements and inventions that contributed to industrial growth and maritime commerce
      • b. the impact of the cotton gin on the economics of Southern agriculture and slavery and the connection between cotton production by slave labor in the South and the economic success of Northern textile industries
      • d. the rise of a business class of merchants and manufacturers e. the role of women as the primary workforce in New England textile factories and female workers’ activism in advocating for reform of working conditions
    • 3. Describe the role of slavery in the economies of the industrialized North and the agricultural South…

New Hampshire State Standards

Grade 5-6 – Economics

  • SS:EC:6:1.2 Explain how specialization and productivity are related
  • SS:EC:6:2.1 Determine the opportunity cost of decisions, e.g. the purchase of an item or the expenditure of time.

Grade 5-6 – US/NH History

  • SS:HI:6:4.1 Demonstrate an understanding of major developments and changes in American economic productivity
  • SS:HI:6:4.2 Evaluation the importance of technological inventions and inventors and their impact on American life.
  • SS:HI:6:5.2 Describe the impact of major national and state events on everyday life.

Grade 7-8 – US/NH History

  • SS:HI:8:4.1 Explore how economic interactions have occurred on an increasingly global scale.

High School – Economics

  • SS:EC:12:1.1 Examine the roles of workers and consumers in factor and product markets.

High School – US/NH History

  • SS:HI:12:4.2 Evaluate the impact of major developments and changes in American economic productivity.
  • SS:HI:12:4.3 Explain how the development of technology has both simplified and complicated work.
  • SS:HI:12:4.4 Examine how economic interactions have occurred on an increasingly global scale

Common Core State Standards

Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Grades 6-8

  • 1. Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources.
  • 7. Integrate visual information with other information in print and digital texts.

Speaking and Listening, Grade 8

  • 1. Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 8 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

Partnership

The Tsongas Industrial History Center is an education partnership between the University of Massachusetts Lowell School of Education and the National Park Service at Lowell National Historical Park.

  • UMass Lowell
  • National Park Service