Texas TEKS 4.11.D
The Standard
- 4.11
- Economics. The student understands patterns of work and economic activities in Texas. The student is expected to:
explain how developments in transportation and communication have influenced economic activities in Texas.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students connect railroads, highways, ports, air travel, telephones, and the internet to changes in Texas trade, jobs, and businesses. They explain these links using clear cause-and-effect statements.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students can name a transportation or communication development and describe how it changed where, how quickly, or how widely goods were sold. They support the explanation with a specific Texas example.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think transportation only moves people, not raw materials and products. They may also describe new technology as faster without explaining how speed affects costs, customers, jobs, or trade.
How to Assess It
- Ask students to choose railroads, highways, or the internet and complete: “Because Texas gained _____, businesses could _____, which caused _____.”
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Have groups connect Texas city cards with yarn rail, road, air, and shipping routes, then place product cards on suitable routes.
Ask students to write how a Texas cattle seller’s business would differ before and after railroads reached nearby towns.
Play a matching game pairing transportation and communication developments with effects such as faster shipping, larger markets, lower costs, or new jobs.
Trace one grocery item from its Texas producer to a local store, listing the transportation and communication needed at each step.
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Printable 4.11.D Worksheet
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Related Standards
- 4.11.B
explain how physical geographic factors such as climate and natural resources have influenced the location of economic activities in Texas
- 4.11.C
identify the effects of exploration, immigration, migration, and limited resources on the economic development and growth of Texas
- 4.4.C
explain the effects of the railroad industry on life in Texas, including changes to cities and major industries
- 7.11.A
explain economic factors and the development of major industries that led to the urbanization of Texas such as transportation, oil and gas, and manufacturing
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