Virginia SOL WG.14

WG.14 is a Standards of Learning history and social science standard. These are the skills expectations under it.

• WG.14.a

  identifying and describing characteristics that contribute to cultural identity, cultural groups, and cultural landscapes

• WG.14.b

  explaining the intellectual exchanges among cultures, including, but not limited to the areas of science, geography, mathematics, philosophy, medicine, art, and...

01

What Students Need to Do

Students identify features such as language, religion, customs, art, architecture, and land use that shape group identity and places. They compare cultures across regions and time, then explain how knowledge and ideas moved, mixed, and changed.

02

What Mastery Looks Like

A student can use maps, images, artifacts, and short sources to identify cultural traits and explain how they shape a group or place. The student can trace an idea between societies and describe what each society contributed or changed.

03

Common Misconceptions

Students may treat every person in a country as culturally identical, or confuse culture with race or nationality. They may assume cultures stay fixed and that exchange moves in only one direction. They may name a borrowed idea without explaining its origin, route, or adaptation.

04

How to Assess It

Exit ticket: Show a street photo with bilingual signs and a religious building, plus a card tracing numerals from India through Islamic scholars to Europe. Ask students to name two identity clues and explain the exchange in three sentences.

1. 01

   Give pairs six photos of buildings, foods, clothing, and signs to sort by visible cultural traits, then justify each grouping.

2. 02

   Ask, “When a culture adopts an idea from another culture, does its identity weaken or change?” Require two examples.

3. 03

   Run a card-matching relay where teams pair an idea, its place of origin, its travel route, and one later adaptation.

4. 04

   Have students examine local restaurant menus, street names, or public art and explain which cultural influences appear in their community.

• S.1

  The student will apply history and social science skills to the content by

• S.3

  The student will apply history and social science skills to the content by

• USII.9

  The student will apply history and social science skills by

• S.2

  The student will apply history and social science skills to the content by