Lesson 5 of 7 · Natural Resources
Experiment⭐ 30 XPRenewable and Nonrenewable Resources
Natural Resources.
🎯 Your mission
Run the experiment. Find out what really happens.
⚡ The twist
Nature loves to surprise the careful watcher.
Mind = Blown
🔬 The more you look, the more nature shows you.
Make a hypothesis first
Before you start: write down what you think will happen, and why.
What You'll Learn
A renewable resource is replaced as fast as we use it — timber if forests are replanted, wind and sunlight always. Coal, oil, gas and metal ores are not; once a deposit is worked out, it is gone on any human timescale.
Key Words
Tap a word to see its definition.
Materials Needed
- resource cards
- notebook
Safety First
- Have an adult check your set-up before you start, and tidy everything away afterwards.
Steps
Read the explanation above and note the two key terms before you start.
Sort twelve resources into renewable and nonrenewable, then pick three nonrenewable ones and find what each is used for and what could replace it.
Record what actually happened, including anything that did not match what you expected.
Write a conclusion that answers the question this lesson opened with, and state your uncertainty.
Check Your Understanding
Question 1
1 of 2Which of these is nonrenewable?
Where you see this in real life
This shows up in your everyday life more than you'd think.
Stretch Challenge
Try this in real life this week.
Try one experiment in real life this week — even a tiny one.
For the dinner table
“What's the most surprising thing you learned today?”
Next Smart Experiment
We'll pick an experiment that matches exactly how you're thinking right now.
Share this experiment
Send it to a parent who's looking for a 10-minute kitchen science win.
Ready?
Renewable and Nonrenewable Resources
Run the experiment. Find out what really happens.
Full screen — no distractions
Checkout complete lesson on Natural Resources for 6th Grade
Get the full Natural Resources track as a printable PDF — all lessons, worksheets, and answer keys.
