Learning Resource Type

Classroom Resource

Natural Resources StudyJam

Subject Area

Science

Grade(s)

3, 4

Overview

Natural resources are things occurring in nature, like air, water, sunlight, and crops, that can be used to fulfill a need. Some natural resources, like metals, plastics, fossil fuels, and old-growth forests, are non-renewable, meaning they cannot be replaced in our lifetime.

The classroom resource provides a slide show that will identify natural resources and explain how some resources are renewable and non-renewable. There is also a short test that can be used to assess students' understanding.

    Science (2015) Grade(s): 3

    SC15.3.11

    Construct an argument from evidence to explain the likelihood of an organism’s ability to survive when compared to the resources in a certain habitat (e.g., freshwater organisms survive well, less well, or not at all in saltwater; desert organisms survive well, less well, or not at all in woodlands).

    Unpacked Content

    UP:SC15.3.11

    Vocabulary

    • Construct
    • Argument
    • Evidence
    • Likelihood
    • Organism
    • Survive
    • Resources
    • Habitat
    • Explanations
    • Groups
    • Populations
    • Communities
    • Niche
    • Illustrate
    • Models
    • System
    • Depend (on each other)
    • Categorize
    • Basic needs (examples: sunlight, air, fresh water, & soil)
    • Produced materials (examples: food, fuel, shelter)
    • Nonmaterial (examples: safety, instinct, nature-learned behaviors)

    Knowledge

    Students know:
    • Some kinds of organisms survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all in a certain habitat.
    • If an environment fully meets the needs of an organism, that organism can survive well within that environment.
    • If an environment partially meets the needs of an organism, that organism can survive less well (lower survival rate, increased sickliness, shorter lifespan) than organisms whose needs are met within that environment.
    • If an environment does not meet the needs of that organism, that organism cannot survive within that environment.
    • Characteristics of a given environment (Examples: soft earth, trees, and shrubs, seasonal flowering plants).
    • Characteristics of a given organism (plants with long, sharp, leaves; rabbit coloration) .
    • Needs of a given organism (shelter from predators, food, water).
    • Characteristics of organisms that might affect survival.
    • How and what features of the habitat meet or do not meet the needs of each of the organisms.
    • Being a part of a group helps animals obtain food, defend themselves, and cope with changes.
    • Members of groups may serve different functions and different groups may vary dramatically in size.
    • Habitats and organisms make up a system in which the parts depend upon each other.
    • Resources and can categorize them as basic materials, produced materials or nonmaterials as resources in various habitats.

    Skills

    Students are able to:
    • Make a claim supported by evidence about an organism's likelihood of survival in a given habitat.
    • Use reasoning to construct an argument.
    • Evaluate and connect relevant and appropriate evidence to support a claim.
    • Construct explanations that forming groups helps some organisms survive.
    • Articulate a statement describing evidence necessary to support the explanation that forming groups helps some organisms survive.
    • Create a model that illustrates how organisms and habitats make up a system in which the parts depend on each other.
    • Describe relationships between components of the model.
    • Categorize resources in various habitats as basic materials, produced material, or nonmaterial.
    • Organize data from the categorization to reveal patterns that suggest relationships.

    Understanding

    Students understand that:
    • Cause and effect relationships are routinely identified and used to explain change.
    • Evidence suggests a causal relationship within the system between the characteristics of a habitat and the survival of organisms within it.
    • The cause and effect relationship between being part of a group and being more successful in obtaining food, defending themselves, and coping with change.
    • That the relationship between organisms and their habitats is a system of related parts that make up a whole in which the individual parts depend on each other.
    • Resources in various habitats have different structures that are related to their function.

    Scientific and Engineering Practices

    Engaging in Argument from Evidence; Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions; Developing and Using Models; Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking

    Crosscutting Concepts

    Cause and Effect; Systems and System Models; Structure and Function
    Science (2015) Grade(s): 4

    SC15.4.5

    Compile information to describe how the use of energy derived from natural renewable and nonrenewable resources affects the environment (e.g., constructing dams to harness energy from water, a renewable resource, while causing a loss of animal habitats; burning of fossil fuels, a nonrenewable resource, while causing an increase in air pollution; installing solar panels to harness energy from the sun, a renewable resource, while requiring specialized materials that necessitate mining).

    Unpacked Content

    UP:SC15.4.5

    Vocabulary

    • natural resources
    • natural renewable resources
    • nonrenewable resources
    • fossil fuels
    • air pollution
    • pollution
    • solar energy
    • environment
    • effects
    • affects
    • habitat
    • solar panel
    • impact
    • solution
    • derived
    • harness

    Knowledge

    Students know:
    • How energy is derived from natural resources.
    • How energy resources derived from natural resources address human energy needs.
    • Positive and negative environmental effects of using each energy resource.
    • The role of technology in improving or mediating the environmental effects of using a given resource.

    Skills

    Students are able to:
    • Waves, which are the regular patterns of motion, can be made in water by disturbing the surface.
    • When waves move across the surface of deep water, the water goes up and down in place; there is no net motion in the direction of the wave except when the water meets a beach.
    • Waves of the same type can differ in amplitude (height of the wave) and wavelength (spacing between wave peaks).

    Understanding

    Students understand that:
    • Energy and fuels that humans use are derived from natural sources, and their use affects the environment in numerous ways.
    • Resources are renewable over time, while others are not.

    Scientific and Engineering Practices

    Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information

    Crosscutting Concepts

    Cause and Effect
    Link to Resource

    CR Resource Type

    Interactive/Game

    Resource Provider

    http://studyjams.scholastic.com/
    Accessibility
    License

    License Type

    Custom
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