Indiana Social Studies S.7.5
The Standard
Examine one or more important social institutions (e.g., marriage, family, education, health care, judicial system, religion) and their functions for society; consider how conflict theory sees the institution.
2026 Indiana Academic Standards: K-12 Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students explain what a social institution does for people and for society. They use conflict theory to ask who holds power, who benefits, and who faces barriers. They support their answers with details from one institution.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can explain how schools teach skills and set rules. They can use differences in course offerings to show how schools may give some students more options than others.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think an institution is just a building, rather than a set of roles and rules. They may think conflict theory means people are always fighting. They may also miss that an institution can help society while still giving some groups an advantage.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: One school offers five advanced classes, while another offers none. Name one function of schools, then explain who benefits from this gap and why a conflict theorist would notice it.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs school profiles with classes of 20 or 35 and different tutoring access; sort reading, rules, and tutoring into functions or unequal opportunities.
Ask students to write: Who benefits when one school has smaller classes than another, and what would conflict theory help us notice?
Play function-or-power: read 'schools teach reading' and 'wealthy districts offer more courses'; students hold up F or P cards and explain.
Print two local high school course lists; students tally advanced classes and write who has more choices.
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Printable S.7.5 Worksheet
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Related Standards
- S.7.4
Conduct research and analysis on an issue associated with social structure or social institutions.
- S.7.6
Examine how technological innovations and scientific discoveries have influenced major social institutions
- S.7.2
Identify basic social institutions and explain their impact on individuals, groups, and organizations within society and how they transmit the values of society...
- S.7.1
Define social institutions as being made up of norms and values, and explain their importance to society.
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