Texas TEKS 8.2.B
The Standard
compare political, economic, religious, and social reasons for the establishment of the 13 English colonies.
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Social Studies
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students identify why settlers and sponsors founded different colonies, such as profit in Virginia, religious refuge in Massachusetts, and defense in Georgia. They classify motives and explain similarities and differences among colonies.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students can compare at least two colonies using accurate historical evidence. They can identify each colony’s main motive and explain when several motives overlapped.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may assume every colony began for religious freedom or that all settlers shared one goal. They may confuse founding motives with later industries, events, or government practices. They also may treat political, economic, religious, and social motives as fully separate.
How to Assess It
- Give students Virginia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. Ask them to name each colony’s main founding motive, then compare any two using specific evidence.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give groups colony cards and four motive labels, then have them sort, defend, and revise their choices using evidence on the cards.
Ask students to write: Which colony had the most mixed founding motives, and what evidence supports your choice?
Play a colony matching game where students pair founder, colony, motive, and supporting fact cards before checking with another team.
Compare a colonial recruitment advertisement with a modern relocation advertisement, then identify the economic, social, political, or religious appeals in each.
Keep exploring
Related Standards
- 8.3.A
explain the reasons for the growth of representative government and institutions during the colonial period;
- 8.2.A
identify reasons for English, Spanish, and French exploration and colonization of North America; and
- 5.1.A
explain when, where, and why groups of people explored, colonized, and settled in the United States, including the search for religious freedom and economic gai...
- 5.1.B
describe the accomplishments of significant individuals who settled for religious freedom and economic gain during the colonial period, including William Bradfo...
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