Our Most Important Resources

Suggested Activities

In this challenge, students discover the nature, location and uses of Alberta's natural resources by determining the two resources that provide the most important products found in students' homes.

Activity 1
Invite students to list different products found in their classroom; e.g., pencils, books, chalk, desks. Then, help the class collectively determine the resource(s) or basic natural materials from which each product is made. You may find it helpful to compile student responses on a chart similar to the one below:

Natural Resources

Explain that all of the materials used to make these products are called natural resources. If students have not previously learned about natural resources, explain that a natural resource is something found in nature that humans use in various ways; e.g., food, manufactured products. Have several examples available, e.g., a branch from a tree, a small container of motor oil, a glass of water, a picture of an animal, sand and gravel in a plastic bag, and ask students to name each resource.

As a class, make a list of Alberta's natural resources on the chalkboard. If students are not familiar with the province's natural resources, provide this information or direct students to relevant books. Invite students to identify which products in the classroom are produced from natural resources found in Alberta, e.g., pencils–trees and minerals, computer–oil [plastic] and minerals, and place a check mark beside each of these. (Note that the products need not actually have been made from Alberta resources.) Additional natural resource categories, such as natural gas, air, soil, wind or sun, may be added to the list. Tabulate the frequency for each resource to determine which natural resource found in Alberta is the most used in the classroom. Invite students to speculate whether or not the results would be true outside the classroom.

Activity 2
Assign students to analyze their use of resources by looking for 10 different products used in a particular room at home and identifying the natural resource(s) from which each is produced. Prepare an appropriate data-collecting sheet or instruct students to record their information by listing the room they examined, the products found and the resources used to make the product (see example below). To avoid confusion, explain the sources of some items, e.g., cotton (plants), wool (animals), silk (animals), synthetics (oil), glass (sand), plastics (oil), nylon (oil), and suggest that students identify the main ingredients for products made of more than two resources. Allocate three or four students to investigate each room. Since not every student will have a garage, tool room or laundry room, ask for volunteers for the more unique rooms before allocating the more common ones.

Resources at Home 

The room I investigated

After students share the results of their research, introduce the idea that some products may be more important than others. Arrange students in groups, according to the room investigated, and ask them to classify each listed product as very important (i.e., absolutely necessary), quite important (i.e., very useful to have) or not important (i.e., could easily do without). Encourage students to determine the relative importance of products by considering how well the room could function without that product or whether another product could easily be substituted. Instruct students to record their findings under the three headings or prepare an appropriate data sheet for students to use. Explain that products, such as a jar of jam, are two composite products (i.e., glass jar and its contents) and should be recorded as two products. Students may decide that contents belong in a different importance column than the container. Consider adapting the chart and strategies for Determining Relative Importance (Support Material) to structure and assess this activity.

Instruct students to use a three-point rating system to determine the two natural resources found in Alberta that provide the most important products found in their assigned room. When the statistics from all rooms have been recorded on a master chart, total the numbers for each resource and record the sum at the bottom of each column.

Activity 3
Invite students to write a paragraph that explains their understanding of the role resources play in their life, providing specific examples of resources and products to illustrate their ideas.

If a large outline map of Alberta has been prepared, invite students to create two- or three-dimensional symbols that represent each natural resource. Help students paste these symbols in appropriate places on the map.

Adapted from Managing Our Natural Wealth, edited by Roland Case and Catriona Misfeldt. Richmond, B.C: The Critical Thinking Consortium, 2002, pp. 2-7 (ISBN 0-86491-240-4)