The Worst Jobs in History is a series of three interactive learning experiences developed by Russel Tarr and hosted on his site Active History. In The Worst Jobs in History students learn about the dirtiest, most dangerous, and tiring jobs in three time periods. The time periods are Medieval, Early Modern, and Modern.
In each activity in The Worst Jobs in History students read short descriptions of jobs and rank them according to how dirty, dangerous, or tiring they think that they are. After ranking the jobs students can take a short online quiz about what they read about the jobs. There is also the option to download a worksheet to use with the activities.
Applications for Education
The Worst Jobs in History provides students with some history lessons that are fun and are not found in your typical history textbooks. The worksheets could be handy if you want to have a record of what your students did within each activity.