Indiana Social Studies WG.5.6

Social StudiesGrades 9–12Revolutions, Nationalism, and Imperial Power: 1500 CE to 1900 CE

The Standard

Create basic policies designed to guide the use and management of Earth’s resources and that reflect multiple points of view.

2026 Indiana Academic Standards: K-12 Social Studies

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students draft rules for using and protecting a resource, such as timber in a colonial-era forest. They consider how the rules affect local communities, merchants, and officials.
What Mastery Looks Like: A student writes a rule with a harvest limit, a way to enforce it, and a plan to protect regrowth. They explain how the rule affects at least two groups.
Common Misconceptions: Students may assume trees grow back as quickly as they are cut. They may leave out Indigenous residents or name their needs without changing the rule to address them.
How to Assess It: Exit ticket: A colonial government plans to cut timber near a village. Write one harvest limit, who enforces it, and how it addresses the needs of two affected groups.

Lesson moves

Give groups 20 paper tree tokens and role cards; run two harvest rounds, then have residents, merchants, and officials negotiate a limit.
Hand out Indigenous resident, timber merchant, and colonial official role cards; ask students to write one rule each group would challenge.
Post three sample forest rules; teams score a point for finding a missing viewpoint, an unclear limit, or a rule nobody can enforce.
Use a sample county drought notice limiting lawn watering; students add one rule addressing residents, farms, and stream habitats.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to WG.5.6, 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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