Indiana Social Studies WG.2.1

Social StudiesGrades 9–12Places and Regions

The Standard

Give examples of how and why places and regions change or do not change over time.

2026 Indiana Academic Standards: K-12 Social Studies

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students compare a place at two points in time. They identify what changed, what stayed similar, and why, using evidence from maps, photos, or data.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student can show where Las Vegas spread between two dated images and where a nearby mountain ridge stayed nearly the same. They connect the growth to population change and the ridge's stability to slow erosion.
Common Misconceptions: Students may call a place unchanged because its name is the same, even when its land use has changed. They may also assume mountains never change, rather than changing slowly.
How to Assess It: Show students 1984 and recent satellite images of Las Vegas. Ask them to name one change and one feature that stayed similar, then give a reason for each.

Lesson moves

Give students tracing paper and two dated Las Vegas satellite images; have them trace the built-up area and a mountain ridge on each.
Show a Las Vegas population chart and rainfall map. Ask, "Why did the city spread while the surrounding desert stayed dry?"
Have pairs match cards labeled housing spread, valley stayed dry, and ridge stayed put with population growth, low rainfall, and slow erosion.
Compare an older aerial image of the school neighborhood with a current map; mark one new structure and one road that remains.

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