Indiana Social Studies E.1.6
The Standard
Describe and compare the various economic systems (i.e., traditional, market, command, mixed, feudal, mercantile) and explain their strengths and weaknesses.
2026 Indiana Academic Standards: K-12 Social Studies · Students explain that because resources are limited, people must make choices, understanding the role that supply, demand, prices, and profits play in a market economy. Key elements of the course include study of scarcity and economic reasoning, supply and demand, market structures, the role of government, national economic performance, the role of financial institutions, economic stabilization, and trade.
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students identify who makes economic decisions and how goods are distributed in six economic systems. They compare what each system does well and where it falls short.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Given a short scenario, students name the system and point to evidence, such as custom, prices, state plans, land duties, or trade limits. They explain a strength and a weakness without calling any system simply good or bad.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think a mixed economy is an equal split between government and business. They may confuse feudal land-for-service duties with mercantile trade rules, or assume traditional economies never change.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: A ruler grants land to nobles for service. Another ruler limits imports to build wealth. Name each system, then give one strength and one weakness of each.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs paper grain tokens and farmer, lord, merchant, and ruler role cards; have them act out land dues and export limits.
Ask: Which system would handle a bread shortage best, and who might lose out? Compare two systems in your answer.
Read clues such as 'land for military service' and 'government limits imports'; teams race to name the system and explain their choice.
Show a grocery receipt with sales tax; ask students to find the market price and the government's role.
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Printable E.1.6 Worksheet
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