Oklahoma Social Studies E.C.5.3
The Standard
- E.C.5
- Examine the origin, function, and evolution of money and monetary systems within modern economies, including trading, borrowing, investing, and the effects of monetary expansion and contraction.
Identify the characteristics (e.g., divisibility, durability, acceptability, scarcity, portability) and functions (e.g., store of value, unit of account, and medium of exchange) of money.
Oklahoma Academic Standards for Social Studies (2026) · E.C.5
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students explain why people accept some items as money. They use traits such as durability, portability, divisibility, limited supply, and broad acceptance to explain why money works for buying, pricing, and saving.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Given cash, a store gift card, and a bag of rice, students can explain where each might work as money and where it would not. They can identify paying for lunch, listing its price, and saving for next week as three different jobs of money.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think anything valuable counts as money, even if few people will accept it. They may confuse a listed price with a payment or assume saved money always keeps the same buying power.
How to Assess It
- On an exit ticket, ask: “A cafeteria lists sandwiches at $5, takes $5 bills, and a student saves $5 for next week. Name the job of money shown in each part, then give one trait that makes bills useful here.”
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs coins, bills, a gift card, and a rock; have them rate each for portability, divisibility, durability, and acceptance.
Ask: “Why might a store take cash but refuse a gift card from another store?” Have students write two reasons.
Play function match: students pair cards showing price tags, purchases, and savings with unit of account, medium of exchange, and store of value.
Show a grocery receipt and a $10 bill; students identify how listed prices and payment show two different jobs of money.
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Printable E.C.5.3 Worksheet
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Related Standards
- K.C.4.6
Identify ways that people use their money, including spending and saving.
- E.C.5.1
Explain the emergence of money as a solution to the limitations of barter and describe its evolution from commodity money to modern monetary systems.
- E.C.5
Examine the origin, function, and evolution of money and monetary systems within modern economies, including trading, borrowing, investing, and the effects of m...
- E.C.5.2
Explain how individuals, businesses, and the overall economy benefits from the various uses of money (e.g., trading, borrowing, investing, and diversifying) ver...
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