Though Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle shocked the American public into a thorough examination of the meat-packing industry, the author was disappointed that his book's main argument—the exploitation of American immigrants—was not...

Using Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, guide your class in the process of identifying unknown terms using context clues and formulating text-based answers. The lesson plan includes a useful worksheet incorporating scaffolding questions on an...

Go with your gut! Scholars read excerpts from The Jungle by Upton Sinclair and record their initial feeling from the reading as strong positive, positive, neutral, negative, or strong negative. They then discuss how their responses...

As you explore an excerpt from Upton Sinclair's The Jungle with your class, discuss how his descriptions of the meat-packing industry caught the public's attention and helped to promote change in the Progressive Era.

Students discuss problems immigrants may have when coming to a new country. They take on the role of a law maker from the era and create an action plan and policy based on samples they read (links provided). Students discuss ways their...

High schoolers explore muckraking. For this American history lesson, students listen to their instructor present a lecture regarding the details of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. High schoolers respond to discussion questions pertaining to...

Can investigative journalism become too sensationalistic and accusatory, or is it vital for the survival of a democracy? Middle schoolers analyze primary source documents from early 20th-century newspapers as well as Theodore...

Students read sections of the novel, "The Jungle". They identify the problems of the meat industry during the Progressive Era. They discuss food concerns of today and make connections between the two time periods.

Students consider the plight of immigrant workers. In this undocumented immigrant instructional activity, students compare the worker of the Industrialization era to the undocumented immigrant workers of today. Students read and discuss...

Eleventh graders interpret and analyze political cartoons. In this primary source analysis lesson, 11th graders examine the implications of Industrialization as they respond to questions regarding selected political cartoons about the...

Philip Armour, an industry titan in the meat industry, made his money by exploiting the need of his workers for jobs. Read about the deplorable conditions the workers endured in the packinghouses and in the shanty towns in which they...

Check out this National Archives and Records Administration site for a short explanation of the term "muckraker," and for a quote by Sinclair, whose writings influenced the passage of the Meat Inspection Act in 1907.