Indiana Social Studies GHW.5.2
The Standard
Describe, using a variety of texts (writing, maps, timelines, and/or other graphic representations), the worldwide trend toward urbanization and the changing function of cities. Assess the impact of factors such as locational advantages and disadvantages, changing transportation technologies, population growth, changing agricultural production, and the demands of industry on this trend.
2026 Indiana Academic Standards: K-12 Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students use maps, graphs, and written accounts to describe the worldwide rise in city populations. They explain how city jobs changed over time. They weigh the effects of location, transport, population growth, farming, and industry.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student uses a graph to show the global trend and a map to explain why a city grew. They can say why one cause mattered more than another and name a change in the city's jobs.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may assume all cities grew at the same pace or that only wealthy countries became more urban. They may confuse population growth with migration, or say farm machines caused urban growth without explaining the loss of farm jobs.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: Show students '1950: 30% urban; 2020: 56% urban' beside a sketch of a harbor and rail line. Ask, 'What changed worldwide, and how could that transport link change a city's jobs?'
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs city population cards from 1950 and 2020 to place on a world map, then have them mark nearby ports and rail lines.
Show photos of a factory district and an office district; ask students to write what changed in city jobs and why.
Run a card sort matching tractors, factories, railroads, harbors, and flood risks to likely changes in city size or jobs.
Give students a local transit map and ask where new housing or jobs might cluster, and what could limit growth.
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Printable GHW.5.2 Worksheet
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Related Standards
- 7.G.7
Identify current trends and patterns of rural and urban population distribution in selected countries of Africa, Asia, and the Southwest Pacific, and analyze th...
- WG.4.15
Describe and explain the worldwide trend toward urbanization and be able to graph the trend.
- GHW.5.1
Ask and answer geographic and historic questions about the origin and growth of towns, cities, and metropolitan areas in different regions of the world and in d...
- WG.4.17
Analyze the changing functions of cities over time.
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