Indiana Social Studies GHW.1.2
The Standard
Analyze agricultural hearths and exchanges of crops among regions. Evaluate the impact of agriculture on the subsequent development of cultural hearths in various regions of the world.
2026 Indiana Academic Standards: K-12 Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students locate early farming centers and track how crops spread between regions. They explain how farming changed settlements and work in different places.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can identify Southwest Asia as an early center of wheat farming and Mesoamerica as an early center of maize farming. They can trace where each crop spread and explain, with evidence, how a steadier food supply helped settlements grow.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may assume a crop began where it is common today, such as potatoes in Europe. They may also assume farming alone caused cities to form, without considering water, trade, and local conditions.
How to Assess It
- On a blank map, have students label the farming origins of wheat and maize and draw one spread route for each. Ask them to write one sentence explaining how farming changed settlement or work in either origin region.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs wheat, rice, maize, and potato origin cards and a blank map; they mark origins and trace each crop's spread.
Have students write two sentences comparing how wheat farming in Southwest Asia and maize farming in Mesoamerica supported settlements.
Run a crop-route match: students pair crop cards with origin and destination cards, then check each route on a map.
Use a grocery flyer to find rice, bread, corn tortillas, and potatoes; students label each crop's domestication region beside its listing.
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Printable GHW.1.2 Worksheet
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Related Standards
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Identify trade routes and discuss their impact on the rise of cultural centers and trade cities in Europe and Mesoamerica.
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