FTCE Social Science 6-12 case studies
FTCE Social Science 6-12 · Put your knowledge to work in context.
Social Science 6–12 (037) is one of the subject-area certification tests listed in the Florida Teacher Certification Examinations (FTCE) program, which is administered for the state of Florida and delivered through the FTCE/FELE website operated by Pearson. Candidates who are preparing to teach social science at the middle or high school level in Florida public schools typically take this subject test alongside the required professional education and general knowledge components; the official site's "What tests do I need to take?" link is the authoritative place to confirm your own required set, since requirements vary by certification route. The FTCE Social Science 6-12 case studies are 5 cases and about 2,456 words.
1The Sinking Delta City: Subsidence, Levees, and Land-Use Tradeoffs
A coastal city of 1.2 million people sits on a river delta of soft alluvial sediment. Groundwater pumping for industry and households has lowered the water table, and measured subsidence averages 2 cm per year in built-up districts, versus 0.3 cm per year in the surrounding undeveloped marsh.
505 words, about 3 min2The Price Ceiling That Created a Queue
A city council, responding to complaints that rental housing is unaffordable, imposes a binding rent ceiling 20% below the current market-clearing rent on all apartments. Before the policy: 40,000 rental units were occupied at an average rent of 1,500 per month, and vacancy was 4%.
497 words, about 2 min3The Coalition That Lost the Popular Vote but Won the Chamber
A country elects its 200-seat legislature from 100 single-member districts, each choosing one member by plurality. A reform party wins 42% of the national vote but only 18 seats, because its supporters are spread thinly across districts.
485 words, about 2 min4The Canal, the Railroad, and the Famine: Reading a Transport Revolution
In a pre-industrial agrarian region, a canal opens in 1790 linking a grain-producing interior to a coastal port. Before the canal, grain moved by cart at high cost, and interior farmers sold little beyond local markets; a poor harvest caused severe local famine because grain could not be moved in.
485 words, about 2 min5The Compromise That Held - and the One That Didn't
In 1850, a nation-sized republic is divided over whether new western territories will permit slavery. A legislative package admits one territory as a free state (shifting the Senate balance), organizes two others under the principle that their residents will decide the question, and strengthens a fugitive-surrender law that northern states increasingly refuse to enforce.
484 words, about 2 min