KS2 Causes of Industrial Revolution

This PowerPoint and lesson is designed to contextualise the Industrial Revolution, and set the scene for the changes it brought about.

It outlines what life was like in England in the early 1700’s before the Industrial Revolution. It spends some time examining how the lower classes lived and worked at this time.

We look at how some new inventions started to change life for these people, and how towns and cities rapidly grew alongside canals and railways.

Children are shown how these changes had both positive and negative impacts and brought about vast contrasts for people living in the countryside and those in the cities.

Challenge the children to predict the impact of the changes through a series of carefully structured prompts.

Finally we look at the impact on social class the Industrial Revolution had, and how a new class – the middle class – sprang up as a result.

A great lesson to set the scene before tackling the Industrial Revolution in more detail.