Oklahoma Social Studies 6.C.3.3
The Standard
- 6.C.3
- Identify the characteristics, distribution, and demographic patterns of human populations and systems of the Western Hemisphere.
Define cultural diffusion by describing how cultural characteristics spread and impact contemporary regions (e.g., entertainment, fast foods, social media’s rapid spread of ideas, wide use of the smartphone).
Oklahoma Academic Standards for Social Studies (2026) · 6.C.3
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students trace a food, song, or idea as it spreads from one region to another. They explain how people shared it and how it changed life in the new region.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can identify where an example came from, how it spread, and one effect in another region. They can explain that people may change a borrowed practice to fit local tastes.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think adopting something new means giving up older traditions. They may call any shared product cultural diffusion without showing where it came from or how it spread. They may also assume it stays the same everywhere.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: A song from South Korea is shared on social media and becomes popular in Oklahoma. Name what spread, how it spread, and one way it could change local music choices.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
On a blank world map, students draw an arrow from South Korea to Oklahoma for a shared K-pop video, then label a possible local effect.
Ask: How could a smartphone video filmed in South Korea change what students watch in Oklahoma?
Have teams match cards labeled 'tacos in Mexico,' 'Mexican restaurants in Oklahoma,' and 'local taco toppings' to origin, spread, and change.
Compare printed McDonald's menus from Oklahoma and India, circle burgers on both, and note one version made for local tastes.
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Printable 6.C.3.3 Worksheet
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Related Standards
- 6.C.3.6.A
Identify examples of cultural diffusion (e.g., Columbian Exchange: availability of new commodities and technology; assimilation of American Indian into colonial...
- WG.C.3.4
Explain the processes of cultural diffusion and interdependence, analyzing their impact on defining a region.
- 4.C.2.4.B
Explain how culture can affect the ways in which people live and how culture can change over time through cultural diffusion.
- 7.C.5.1
Compare cultural traits of major cultural regions and explain how culture can change over time through the process of cultural diffusion.
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