Alabama Social Studies SS24.8.6a
The Standard
- SS24.8.6
- Describe key aspects and figures of Indigenous societies during the Postclassic Period in Mesoamerica and the Andean region and the Mississippian Period in North America, including the Maya, Aztec, and Inca civilizations.
Analyze how geographic and environmental factors led to the location and growth of Indigenous societies.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students use maps and environmental clues to explain why Indigenous communities settled in certain places. They connect water, farmland, and travel routes to a community’s growth.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can locate Cahokia near the Mississippi River and identify nearby farmland. They can explain how farming and river travel helped it grow, while floods posed a risk.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think rivers mattered only for drinking water, not farming or travel. They may also assume the land caused a community to grow without the work and choices of the people living there.
How to Assess It
- Show a map with Cahokia, the Mississippi River, and nearby farmland. Ask students to name two features and explain how each could have helped Cahokia grow.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
On a printed Mississippi floodplain map, pairs place cornfield counters and a settlement marker, then explain their choices.
Ask students: How did farming and river travel help Cahokia grow, and what problems could floods cause?
Give pairs three site cards listing soil, water, and flood risk; have them rank the sites and defend their top pick.
Compare a present-day Mississippi flood map with Cahokia’s location, then list one benefit and one risk people faced in both places.
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Printable SS24.8.6a Worksheet
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Related Standards
- SS24.8.11c
Analyze the consequences of initial contact between Europeans and Indigenous peoples in the Americas.
- SS24.7.5a
Analyze the influence of physical geography on the locations of the early agrarian societies, including the early river valleys settlements.
- SS24.7.2
Analyze how human interaction with the environment, location, movement, place, and region affect cultural, economic, and social conditions for those living in a...
- SS24.8.6c
Explain how religious beliefs and practices shaped culture in Indigenous societies.
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