OHCE 2016

District Lessons

How Textiles influence Our Lives

Teaching Outline

Prepared by:

Mary Ruppert-Stroescu, Ph.D.; Assistant Professor

and Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service Clothing Specialist

Introduction to topic:

Textiles are all around us, and have greatly influenced the development of humankind. We may think of textiles as just something that our clothes are made of, but the topic of textiles is much more complex. Textiles have existed since neolitihic times, and 20th Century textile developments have freed women from the task of ironing as well as helping humankind walk on the moon and more. Textiles are important to the economy and national defense; the textile industry is one of the largest manufacturing employers in the US, supplies +8,000 different textile products each year to the U.S. military, and the US is the the third largest exporter of textile products in the world. The textile industry is so important that the Executive Branch of the Government, the office of the United States Trade Representative has an “Assistant to the USTR for Textiles who…will be responsible for supervising negotiations affecting textile and apparel products, advising the Ambassador on textile and apparel trade policy matters and working to expand the industry's access to foreign markets.”

Program objectives:

After completing this program, participants should understand:

•How textiles have and continue to influenced the economy and even politics.

•Ways in which textiles have aided human development over time

•Identify the history of the first natural and manufactured fibers

•Describe ways that modifications make fibers work smarter

•Imagine ways that textile innovations will make our lives easier.

Program materials:

  • Teaching Outline
  • Scripted longer PowerPoint
  • Scripted shorter PowerPoint: 15 minute OHCE leader lesson

Suggested props/activities

  • Bring a sample of
  • cotton, linen, and wool fabric
  • polyester that looks like silk, wool, linen, cotton
  • Ask people to guess at the fiber content of the samples.

Suggested activities:

  • You might bring samples of each of the four types of fibers: Cotton, linen, wool, and silk. And then polyester that looks like each one of them.
  • You could ask them to identify the fibers based on their knowledge.

Preparation:

Please prepare for your program by doing the following activities:

  • Review the lesson well
  • Gather props

Lesson Evaluation: Post-program evaluation.

  • Jobs and Employment issue team

Suggested timeframe: 15 minutes - 1 hour (depending on lesson)

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