Indiana Social Studies WG.4.13

Social StudiesGrades 9–12Human Systems

The Standard

Identify contemporary spatial patterns in the movement of goods, services, and ideas throughout the world.

2026 Indiana Academic Standards: K-12 Social Studies · Economic Interdependence (Globalization)

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students use maps to trace where goods are shipped, services are provided, and ideas spread across borders. They identify busy routes, hubs, and places with fewer connections.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student can map phones shipped from China to the United States and support calls handled in India for US customers. They can show where a video idea spreads online and use the map to point out a shared destination.
Common Misconceptions: Students may assume a product was made in the country where it was sold. They may think services cannot cross borders or that an online idea reaches every country equally.
How to Assess It: Give students a blank world map and three cards: phones shipped from China to the US, support calls from India to the US, and a video posted in South Korea and viewed in the US. Ask them to draw labeled arrows and name one pattern they see.

Lesson moves

Use colored yarn and pins on a wall map to trace a phone shipment, a support call, and a video shared across borders.
Ask: Why does a phone shipment need a port, while a support call from India to the US does not?
Give pairs flow cards to sort as goods, services, or ideas, then have them place origin and destination stickers on a map.
Check tags on three classroom items, map where they were made, and compare those routes with the origin of a streamed song.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to WG.4.13, 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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