Virginia SOL WG.12.b
The Standard
distinguishing between developed and developing countries
Virginia Standards of Learning for History and Social Science · The student will apply social science skills to understand the distribution, growth rates, and characteristics of human population by
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students compare countries using income per person, life expectancy, literacy, infant mortality, and access to services. They classify countries and support their decisions with several indicators.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Given a country data table, students identify its likely level of development and cite at least two supporting facts. They recognize that development falls along a spectrum and can change.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may use total wealth, population size, or one statistic to classify a country. They may assume every resident has the same living conditions or that categories never change.
How to Assess It
- Give students data profiles for two fictional countries. Ask them to classify each country and support each choice with two statistics.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Have groups sort country profile cards along a development continuum, then attach sticky notes naming the evidence for each placement.
Ask students to write: Is income alone enough to measure development? Use three indicators to support your answer.
Play Indicator Detective by revealing one statistic at a time while teams predict, revise, and explain each country's likely category.
Compare recent health, education, and income data for two countries, then write a short recommendation for where aid funding should go.
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Related Standards
- USI.5.d
explaining the specialization and interdependence of the regions; and
- WG.12.c
comparing and contrasting the level of economic development to the standard of living, quality of life, form of government, personal freedom, and economic oppor...
- WG.2.a
comparing the distribution of major natural resources throughout world regions;
- WG.12.a
examining the relationship between demographic data to determine the level of economic development;
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