Alabama Social Studies SS24.8.6b
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.
Describe technological and engineering achievements of Indigenous societies.
2024 Alabama Course of Study: Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students identify engineering achievements of Indigenous societies, such as Inca terraces and Aztec chinampas. They explain how each design helped people farm, travel, or manage water.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can name the people who used a design and explain the problem it solved. They can describe how a chinampa provided farmland in a shallow lake.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may treat Indigenous societies as one group with the same technology. They may think chinampas were floating rafts rather than built-up plots anchored in a shallow lake.
How to Assess It
- Ask students to choose Inca terraces or Aztec chinampas. Have them sketch the design, name the people who used it, and explain one problem it solved.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Build soil terraces in one tray with cardboard strips; leave a second tray sloped, pour water over both, and compare soil loss.
Show photos of Aztec chinampas and Inca terraces; ask, “What land or water problem did each design solve?”
Give pairs cards labeled Aztec chinampas, Inca terraces, and Ancestral Pueblo irrigation canals; have them match each to a farming challenge.
Sketch a sloped school garden with terraces, then label how Inca terrace engineering could slow soil loss there.
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Printable SS24.8.6b Worksheet
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Related Standards
- SS24.7.7b
Identify major technological and artistic achievements of ancient Egypt.
- SS24.6.1
Describe major Indigenous societies in North America prior to European contact.
- SS24.8.6a
Analyze how geographic and environmental factors led to the location and growth of Indigenous societies.
- SS24.8.6c
Explain how religious beliefs and practices shaped culture in Indigenous societies.
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