Indiana Social Studies P.4.6

Social StudiesGrades 9–12Cognition

The Standard

Compare and contrast between explicit (semantic) and implicit (procedural) memory.

2026 Indiana Academic Standards: K-12 Social Studies

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students compare remembering facts with performing learned skills. They explain that facts can be recalled in words, while skills are often shown through action. Both draw on past learning.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student can identify naming a state capital as semantic memory and tying a shoelace as procedural memory. They can explain one difference and note that both are forms of long-term memory.
Common Misconceptions: Students may think that knowing the steps for tying a shoe is the same as being able to tie it. They may also think a skill stops being procedural memory if someone can describe it.
How to Assess It: Exit ticket: A student recalls that Indianapolis is Indiana’s capital and ties a shoe without thinking. Name the memory used in each case, then give one difference and one similarity.

Lesson moves

Give pairs a shoelace and a card with a state capital; have them tie a bow, hide the card, and recall the capital.
Ask students to write two sentences comparing recall of a state capital with tying a shoe, including one thing both have in common.
Have teams sort cards marked typing without looking, defining democracy, tying a knot, and naming a capital into two memory groups.
Ask students why a cook might forget what simmer means but still chop vegetables quickly.

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A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to P.4.6, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

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