Texas TEKS 7.11.A
The Standard
explain economic factors and the development of major industries that led to the urbanization of Texas such as transportation, oil and gas, and manufacturing
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students trace how transportation networks, oil and gas production, and manufacturing created jobs and drew people to Texas cities. They explain each link between industry growth, migration, and urban expansion.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students can use a Texas example, such as Houston or Beaumont, to build a clear cause-and-effect explanation. They support the explanation with details about jobs, trade, resources, or transportation.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may treat urbanization as simple population growth rather than movement toward cities. They may assume oil was the only cause or confuse an industry's growth with the city's resulting growth.
How to Assess It
- Give this exit prompt: “Choose one Texas industry and one city. Write a three-step cause-and-effect chain showing how the industry helped the city grow.”
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups a Texas map, industry cards, and yarn to connect resources, transportation routes, factories, jobs, and growing cities.
Ask students to write which mattered more to Houston's growth, transportation or oil, using two specific pieces of evidence.
Run a cause-and-effect card sort where teams match industries, economic changes, population movement, and Texas cities.
Have students examine their nearest city's major employers and transportation links, then identify one factor that may have driven local growth.
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Printable 7.11.A Worksheet
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Related Standards
- 7.7.A
explain how the oil industry led to the industrialization of Texas;
- 4.11.C
identify the effects of exploration, immigration, migration, and limited resources on the economic development and growth of Texas; and
- 4.4.C
explain the effects of the railroad industry on life in Texas, including changes to cities and major industries; and
- 4.11.D
explain how developments in transportation and communication have influenced economic activities in Texas.
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