Indiana Social Studies 1.E.3
The Standard
Explain that people must make choices about goods and services because resources are limited in relation to people’s wants (e.g., scarcity).
2026 Indiana Academic Standards: K-12 Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students name what they want and what they have to spend. They explain why they must choose when they do not have enough money, time, or supplies for everything.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Given one ticket and a choice between a snack and face painting, a student picks one. They explain that one ticket cannot pay for both.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think a want is something they must have. They may think the choice they did not pick has disappeared, rather than recognizing that they cannot afford both.
How to Assess It
- Draw a snack and face painting on the board. Ask, “You have one ticket, and each costs one ticket. Which do you choose, and why can’t you get both?”
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs two paper tickets and cards showing a toy, a snack, and a haircut; charge one ticket per card and have them pick two.
Ask, “If reading a story and playing a game each take ten minutes, but we have only ten minutes, which should we choose? Why?”
Play ticket shop: give each student one ticket, show three one-ticket cards, and have students name what they chose and left behind.
Show a grocery flyer with $3 apples and $3 bread; ask which one a family can buy with $3.
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Printable 1.E.3 Worksheet
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Related Standards
- E.1.4
Define scarcity, and explain how choices incur opportunity costs, utility, and trade-offs.
- GE.1.2
Define scarcity and explain how opportunity costs and tradeoffs exist.
- 2.E.3
Define opportunity cost and explain that because resources are limited in relation to people’s wants (e.g., scarcity), people must make choices as to how to use...
- 3.E.1
Give examples from the local community that illustrate scarcity of resources and explain how scarcity requires people to make choices and give up other options ...
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