Oklahoma Social Studies WG.C.5.5
The Standard
- WG.C.5
- Analyze patterns of land use among the world’s people.
Analyze the influence of geography on current issues to consider decisions regarding future land use, including the costs and benefits of environmental regulation.
Oklahoma Academic Standards for Social Studies (2026) · WG.C.5
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students use maps to decide where new homes or businesses should go. They weigh how land rules can reduce flood damage against the costs of limiting where people can build.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can use flood risk and road access to defend a building site. They can explain how a floodplain building ban may prevent damage but leave fewer sites available.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may assume all open land is safe to build on. They may see a building ban as only a benefit or only a cost, without considering who pays and who is protected.
How to Assess It
- Show a map with Site A in a floodplain and Site B outside it. Ask: “Where should 20 homes go? Give one geographic reason, plus one cost and one benefit of banning construction in the floodplain.”
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs a printed floodplain map and colored pencils; have them mark a site for 20 homes and circle nearby roads at risk.
Ask students to write a short response: “Should our town ban new homes in floodplains? Who benefits, and who pays?”
Give groups four lot cards with land prices and flood risks; they choose a site within a set budget and defend their choice.
Open a county flood map, find a road near school, and ask whether new building nearby should require stormwater controls.
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Related Standards
- WG.P.2.3.C
Evaluate the extent to which political and economic decisions have had significant impact on human and physical environments of various places and regions.
- TOT.P.2.3.C
Evaluate the extent to which political and economic decisions have had significant impact on human and physical environments of various places and regions.
- MWH.P.2.3.C
Evaluate the extent to which political and economic decisions have had significant impact on human and physical environments of various places and regions.
- OKH.P.2.3.C
Evaluate the extent to which political and economic decisions have had significant impact on human and physical environments of various places and regions.
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