Virginia SOL WG.15

WG.15 is a Standards of Learning history and social science standard. These are the skills expectations under it.

• WG.15.a

  applying the concepts of site and situation to major cities in each region

• WG.15.b

  explaining how the functions of towns and cities have changed over time.

01

What Students Need to Do

Students explain why major cities grew where they did, using local physical features and connections to other places. They trace rural-to-urban migration and describe how city roles change over time.

02

What Mastery Looks Like

Students correctly separate site factors, such as rivers or harbors, from situation factors, such as trade routes or nearby markets. They use map and historical evidence to explain a city's growth, changing role, and migration patterns.

03

Common Misconceptions

Students often confuse site with situation or treat both as physical geography. They may assume all rural migrants move only for jobs. They may also describe a city's function as fixed rather than changing with technology, trade, or politics.

04

How to Assess It

Give students a map of Dubai. Ask them to name one site factor, one situation factor, and one changing function that attracted migrants.

1. 01

   Place city cards on a world map, then use yarn to connect each city to ports, rivers, markets, resources, and migration sources.

2. 02

   Write: How could a railroad, new factory, or government office change who moves to a city and why?

3. 03

   Play Site or Situation by sorting city clues into two columns, then require students to justify three disputed cards.

4. 04

   Compare an old and current map of your nearest city, then identify one changed function and its effect on population.

• USII.3

  The student will apply history and social science skills to understand how industrialization changed life in rural and urban America after the Civil War by

• WG.14

  The student will apply history and social science skills to determine cultural patterns and interactions across time and place by

• WG.13

  The student will apply history and social science skills to understand population and migration by

• USII.9

  The student will apply history and social science skills by