Texas TEKS 7.21.B
The Standard
analyze and interpret geographic distributions and patterns in Texas during the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students read maps, graphs, and tables to find where people, cities, industries, and resources were located across Texas. They compare different time periods and explain changes using geographic and historical evidence.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students identify clusters, gaps, movement, and regional differences in Texas data. They support a claim about change over time with accurate evidence from two or more sources.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may describe a map without identifying a pattern or explaining why it occurred. They may assume population grew evenly across Texas or confuse total population with population density.
How to Assess It
- Give students Texas population maps from 1900 and 2020. Ask them to identify one major shift and explain it with two map details.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups Texas population maps from 1850, 1950, and 2020, then use sticky notes to mark growth areas and shifts.
Ask students to write: Why did Texas population growth concentrate near major cities, transportation routes, and water sources?
Play Map Evidence Match, where students pair pattern cards such as urban growth or migration with supporting maps and data.
Compare local census maps from two decades, then have students explain how housing, roads, or businesses changed nearby.
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Printable 7.21.B Worksheet
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- 4.7.B
identify and explain patterns of settlement such as the location of towns and cities in Texas at different time periods.
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create and interpret thematic maps, graphs, and charts representing various aspects of Texas during the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries; and
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