Indiana Social Studies S.8.6

Social StudiesGrades 9–12Collective Behavior and Social Change

The Standard

Investigate the consequences of change to society.

2026 Indiana Academic Standards: K-12 Social Studies

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students investigate how a change, such as widespread car ownership, affects jobs, neighborhoods, and daily life. They use evidence to explain who benefits, who faces costs, and how effects unfold over time.
What Mastery Looks Like: Students can use a town map to explain how a new highway might change where people live and shop. They can name a benefit for drivers, a cost for people without cars, and the cause of each effect.
Common Misconceptions: Students may assume a change helps everyone equally or has only one effect. They may also treat two events that happened at the same time as proof that one caused the other.
How to Assess It: Exit ticket: A town builds a highway past its downtown. Name one likely benefit and one likely cost for different residents, and explain how the highway could cause each.

Lesson moves

Give pairs a paper town map and sticky notes to place a new highway, then mark two likely changes to shops and homes.
Ask students to write: How did widespread car ownership change where families lived, and who could not take part?
Have pairs sort cards labeled highways, suburbs, downtown shops, and pollution into causes and effects, then build two chains.
Use a local street map to compare walking and driving routes to a grocery store, then identify who faces longer trips.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to S.8.6, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

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

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