This is a high interest activity. When I'm feeling rich, I have candy for some prizes as we go during the second quiz, but it really isn't necessary. The subject matter is inherently important, and students pick up on this right away.  They get some perspective about how resources are distributed and how they were distributed 130 years ago. Good conversations and conjectures emerge by comparing the human condition today to that of the Industrial Revolution period.

I use in English class during themes of equality, classism, etc., and I use it in American history. I'd love to see it used in a math class! There is a lot of fraction percentage decimal conversions to be made! 

There is a multiple choice quiz about facts surrounding the living conditions of workers today. The second quiz offers a bunch of statistics and the answers are all numbers. Students are either asked to make estimates or to match the correct number with the correct descriptor. The second one is about the condition of the American worker during the end of the Industrial Revolution. 

They are meant to be fun, shocking, consciousness raising, and they are meant to offer a practical useful application of mathematics. The products they are asked make after the quiz are of course up to you, but they are great culminating activities that provides an excellent conversation piece for hanging up on the wall for others to enjoy.