Indiana Social Studies 2.E.3
The Standard
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 resources.
2026 Indiana Academic Standards: K-12 Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students explain that limited time, money, or supplies mean they cannot have everything they want. They make a choice and name the best other option they give up, called the opportunity cost.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Given one sheet of paper and two projects that each need a full sheet, a student chooses one and explains why they cannot make both. They name the other project as the opportunity cost, not the paper.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may call the paper itself the opportunity cost instead of the project they gave up. They may think scarcity only means having no money, rather than too little time or too few supplies.
How to Assess It
- Ask: “Maya has one sheet of paper. She wants to make a card and a paper airplane, but each needs the whole sheet. She makes the card. Why can’t she make both, and what is her opportunity cost?”
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give each student one sheet for a paper airplane or greeting card, then ask them to name the project they gave up.
Ask: “You can buy one sticker or one pencil. Which do you pick, and what do you give up?”
Give pairs three tokens and two picture cards priced at two tokens each, then have them choose one and name the skipped choice.
At recess, ask students to choose between swings and basketball for five minutes, then name what their limited time kept them from doing.
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Printable 2.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.
- 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 ...
- 1.E.3
Explain that people must make choices about goods and services because resources are limited in relation to people’s wants (e.g., scarcity).
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