Diamond 9: What were the Causes of Britain's Industrial Revolution?

This outstanding resource has been designed by experienced teachers to help develop students critical thinking skills whilst studying the causes of Britain’s Industrial Revolution 1750 - 1900. It can be used with middle and upper ability students as a starter, plenary, revision or assessment activity. If you are looking for a resource to for the full ability spectrum, then why not check out my card sort on this topic, which can be downloaded from my TES shop.

The resource includes nine diamond shaped cards which include a range of factors which explain Britain had an Industrial Revolution 1750 - 1900? The document is provided in Microsoft Word so you can edit the resource if you wish to customise it further by changing any of the key factors that I have included. Once students have cut the cards out, they are set three tasks including:

1. Remove any reasons that you don’t think are important. Record and explain why you have removed them.
2. Arrange the remaining diamonds to show any links that you can find between the different reasons. Record and explain your reasons.
3. Make a smaller diamond shape using the four most important reasons why Britain had an Industrial revolution 1750 - 1900. Record and explain the reasons for your choices.

At each stage students should be feeding back to their group or the class and explaining their choices. The discussion and explanation around the choices that they have made are critical in helping them develop their critical thinking skills as well as their understanding of the topic.

The aims and objectives for this lesson are:

Theme: The Industrial Revolution 1750 - 1900
Know: How did Britain change from 1750 - 1900?
Understand: Why did Britain have an Industrial Revolution 1750 - 1900?
Analyse: Which causes were the most important?
Skills: Analysis, Evaluation, Discussion & Collaboration

WILF: What Am I Looking For this lesson?
Identify and describe: How did Britain change 1750 - 1900?
Explain: Why did Britain have an Industrial Revolution 1750 - 1900?
Analyse: begin to form a judgement in which causes were the most important?

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Kind Regards

Roy