Indiana Social Studies WG.4.12
The Standard
Explain the meaning of the word infrastructure and analyze its relationship to a country’s level of development. Compare and contrast the process and advancement of developing and developed nations.
2026 Indiana Academic Standards: K-12 Social Studies · Economic Interdependence (Globalization)
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students identify roads, power grids, water systems, and internet networks as infrastructure. They use country data to explain how these systems relate to health, income, and education, then compare how two countries are developing.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can compare two countries using specific data, without assuming either country follows a fixed path. They can explain how reliable water or power supports daily life and how a growing economy can help pay for those systems.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may assume every wealthy country has reliable services everywhere or that every lower-income country lacks paved roads. They may treat a new road as proof of better living conditions without asking who can use it.
How to Assess It
- Give students this prompt: “Country A has electricity in 95% of homes and a life expectancy of 79 years. Country B has electricity in 55% of homes and a life expectancy of 66 years. Explain one possible link, then name one thing these figures cannot tell you.”
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs a blank town map and 12 tokens; have them place roads, water pipes, and power lines, then explain their choices.
Ask: “If a country builds a highway, who gains first, and who might still lack clean water?” Have pairs defend their answers.
Give pairs country data cards with electricity, income, and life expectancy; have them sort supported claims from unsupported claims.
Show a local road closure notice; ask students to trace its effects on work, deliveries, and health care access.
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