Grade 6 · Contemporary World Cultures · §113.18 · Problem-Based Learning

A Crossroads for the Region — Growth vs. Heritage

A Problem-Based Learning unit. Students study a region with a deep cultural heritage that is offered a huge new development, take on a stakeholder's point of view, and work a real, ill-structured question — building from surface to deep to transfer learning. The teacher is a guide, not the answer key.

Driving question: A world region is offered a huge new development — a factory-and-tourism project that promises thousands of jobs and money for schools and roads. But it would be built next to an ancient heritage site and would change a traditional way of life that has lasted for generations. As stakeholders in the region, should the project go ahead, and how?

The three-phase path (do them in order)

Problem-solving is a transfer move — it only works once students have knowledge to reason with. So the problem in Phase 3 is deliberately gated behind Phases 1 and 2.

① Surface

Build the knowledge

Vocabulary, what makes a culture, a jigsaw read, and reading a country profile + economic data. ~1–2 periods.

② Deep

Connect & organize

Costs–benefits concept map, sources with different points of view, and a structured argument. ~1–2 periods.

③ Transfer

Solve the problem

Meet the problem, take a role, investigate, propose & defend a decision, debrief. ~2–4 periods.

⛔ Gate: don't open the Phase 3 problem until students have finished the surface and deep activities. Meeting the problem too early turns inquiry into guessing.

Big idea & objectives

Big idea: Societies must weigh economic development against culture, environment, and identity. Solving such a problem means understanding a culture's institutions, values, and different points of view — not just the money involved.

Know: how a region earns a living, what a cultural heritage and its institutions are, how the region is governed and who decides, and what a big development offers and costs.
Understand: the same offer looks different from each stakeholder's point of view — a young worker who wants a job and an elder protecting heritage do not see the same choice.
Do: run the problem-solving process end to end — define a problem, gather information, weigh options, choose and defend a solution, and evaluate it (§113.18(c)(22)(B)).

Standards this unit is aligned to (§113.18)

TEKS SE	Where it lives in the unit
(c)(5)	Human–environment interaction — modifying the land, using resources, and the consequences — Deep concept map, Transfer inquiry
(c)(6) · (c)(7)	Factors of production; kinds of economic systems (traditional, command, market, mixed) — Surface vocabulary & jigsaw
(c)(8)	Reading economic activities & data across places — Surface data work, Deep sources
(c)(9) · (c)(10)	Limited vs. unlimited governments; how people organize government and who decides — Surface jigsaw, Transfer roles
(c)(13) · (c)(14) · (c)(15)	Differences within & among cultures; institutions all societies share; relationships among cultures — Surface jigsaw, Transfer
(c)(16) · (c)(17)	Arts, religion, and philosophy in a culture — Surface jigsaw, Deep costs–benefits
(c)(19) · (c)(20)	Source analysis & points of view; geographic/data tools; claim + evidence — Deep & Transfer
(c)(22)(B)	The problem-solving process — the entire Transfer phase

Teacher prep & materials

Print the facilitator guide (teacher moves, map of possibilities, role cards, debrief prompts) and the assessment pack (rubric + individual-in-group).
Chart paper or a projected space for three shared columns: Hunches · Know · Need-to-Know (the KWHL chart).
Vetted sources for investigation (district-approved). Suggested public, reputable sources are listed in the facilitator guide.
No logins, no accounts — every page runs in the browser. Student writing and products live on paper or in tools your district already vets.

▶ Start Phase 1 — Surface 🧑‍🏫 Facilitator guide ✅ Assessment 📊 Correlation

Teacher supports: UDL · ELPS · PBL facilitation guide (7 languages)

Aligned to (not reproduced from) 19 TAC Ch.113 §113.18; effect sizes from Visible Learning MetaX. This region and scenario are a teaching fiction based on real development-vs-heritage dilemmas.