Idaho Social Studies 6-9.WG.3.1
The Standard
Describe abundance, scarcity, and distribution of resources; explain their impact on decision making such as trade, settlement, stewardship of the natural environment, and development of infrastructure.
Idaho Content Standards: K-12 Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students identify where resources are plentiful, limited, or unevenly spread. They explain how access to resources affects where people live, what they trade, how they care for land and water, and what they build.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Given a map of water, farmland, and roads, a student can choose a settlement site and support the choice with map evidence. They can explain why a town with little water might build a pipeline, limit water use, or buy food grown elsewhere.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may call water scarce only when it runs out. They may think a region with plenty of a resource has equal access in every town. Some confuse roads and pipelines with natural resources rather than systems people build to reach them.
How to Assess It
- Draw two towns on the board, one beside a river with farmland and one inland with little water but a road. Ask students to name one unevenly available resource and explain a trade or building choice using the map.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Place blue and green counters for water and farmland unevenly on a blank map; students choose a settlement site and draw one trade route.
Ask: Should a town cut its remaining forest to build homes or protect it? Have students cite wood supply and one long-term cost.
Give pairs four town cards with different water and food supplies; they match each town to a trade, road, or conservation choice and explain why.
Show a grocery flyer featuring bananas and local apples; students explain how growing conditions and shipping affect where stores get fruit.
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Related Standards
- 6-9.WG.2.12
Analyze the availability of natural resources in regions throughout the world.
- 6-9.WG.3.7
Investigate how physical geography, natural resources, specialization, and trade have influenced the way people meet their material needs.
- 9-12.EC.1
Apply and explain the concepts of supply and demand, scarcity, opportunity costs, and incentives, as well as their implications for decision-making.
- 3.SS.3.3
Explain how land, natural resources, labor, trade, and/or technology affect economic activities in the local community.
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