Indiana Social Studies S.2.2

Social StudiesGrades 9–12Culture

The Standard

Explain the differences between the concepts: culture and society.

2026 Indiana Academic Standards: K-12 Social Studies

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students identify culture in shared customs, beliefs, and language. They identify society in a group of people living together with organized relationships and institutions. They explain how one society can include several cultures.
What Mastery Looks Like: Given a town where residents celebrate different holidays, students identify the town as a society and the holidays as cultural practices. They explain why residents can share a society without sharing every custom.
Common Misconceptions: Students may call the people themselves a culture rather than naming the customs they share. They may assume everyone in one country has the same culture, or that a society must be a whole country.
How to Assess It: Exit ticket: A town has a council, schools, and residents who celebrate different holidays. Name one feature of its society and one cultural practice, then explain the difference.

Lesson moves

Give pairs cards labeled 'greeting ritual,' 'shared recipe,' 'town residents,' and 'town council'; have them sort by culture or society.
Ask, 'Can neighbors share a town but not every custom?' Have students support an answer using two holiday traditions.
Play rapid rounds: read examples like 'dialect' and 'court system'; students raise C or S cards and explain one choice.
Print a local festival flyer and a city council webpage; students point to one shared practice and one governing institution.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to S.2.2, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.

Keep exploring

Grade, subject, topic, and the complete standard are prefilled. Create one free, no account needed.