Texas TEKS 5.8

5.8 is a TEKS knowledge and skills statement. These are the student expectations under it.

• 5.8.A

  describe how and why people have adapted to and modified their environment in the United States such as the use of human resources to meet basic needs

• 5.8.B

  analyze the positive and negative consequences of human modification of the environment in the United States.

01

What Students Need to Do

Students explain how people use land, water, plants, animals, and labor to meet basic needs. They distinguish adapting to environmental conditions from changing the environment. They identify benefits and harms caused by those changes.

02

What Mastery Looks Like

Students can explain why people built a dam, irrigation system, road, or settlement in a specific place. They can name a benefit and a negative consequence, then support each with evidence.

03

Common Misconceptions

Students may confuse adapting to an environment with physically changing it. They may assume environmental changes are entirely helpful or harmful. They may overlook long-term effects on wildlife, water, soil, and nearby communities.

04

How to Assess It

Ask students to explain why a town might build a dam, then list one positive consequence and one negative consequence.

1. 01

   Give groups a tray of sand, foil, and craft sticks to build a flood-safe settlement, then test it with poured water.

2. 02

   Ask students to write: Should a town build a dam if it provides water but floods wildlife habitat? Defend your answer.

3. 03

   Have students sort scenario cards into adaptation, modification, or both, then match each modification with one benefit and one harm.

4. 04

   Compare older and newer aerial images of a nearby community, then annotate changes to roads, housing, water, farmland, and habitats.

• 7.9

  Geography. The student understands the effects of the interaction between humans and the environment in Texas. The student is expected to:

• 3.3

  Geography. The student understands how humans adapt to and/or modify the physical environment. The student is expected to:

• 4.8

  The 4th Grade version of this standard.

• 2.5

  Geography. The student understands how humans use and modify the physical environment. The student is expected to: