Oklahoma Social Studies WG.C.4.4

Social StudiesGrades 9–12Content Standards

The Standard

Evaluate how the forces of cooperation and conflict among people influence the control and management of territory and resources.

Oklahoma Academic Standards for Social Studies (2026) · WG.C.4

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students trace how groups cooperate or clash over land, water, and other resources. They explain who gains control, who loses access, and how a dispute or agreement changes resource use.
What Mastery Looks Like: Given a map and a short account of a river dispute, a student identifies each group's claim. They use evidence to compare who benefits from a dam and who benefits from a shared water agreement.
Common Misconceptions: Students may assume a border settles who controls every resource near it. They may think cooperation is fair to everyone, or that conflict always means fighting rather than lawsuits or competing rules.
How to Assess It: Exit ticket: Two towns share a river during a drought. One builds a dam; the other proposes shared water limits. How would each action change access to water, and which would work better?

Lesson moves

Give pairs a river map and ten water tokens; have them place tokens for two towns, then negotiate a drought plan.
Ask: Who should control a river that crosses a border? Have students defend a rule using a map and water-use figures.
Give groups dam, drought, and treaty cards; after each card, have them redraw who controls water on a blank map.
Use a Colorado River basin map and state water-use chart to identify competing needs and one agreement that addresses them.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to WG.C.4.4, 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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