Texas TEKS 4.11.A
The Standard
identify and explain advantages and disadvantages of using Earth's renewable and nonrenewable natural resources such as wind, water, sunlight, plants, animals, coal, oil, and natural gas
Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Science
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students classify resources as renewable or nonrenewable. They explain one benefit and one drawback of using each resource, including effects on people and the environment.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students correctly classify examples such as sunlight, plants, oil, and natural gas. They compare two resources and support their claims with specific benefits and drawbacks.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think renewable resources never run out or cause harm. They may also confuse recyclable materials with renewable resources or assume all nonrenewable resources are equally harmful.
How to Assess It
- Give students sunlight and oil. Ask them to label each resource, list one advantage and disadvantage, then choose one and explain their choice.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Sort picture cards into renewable and nonrenewable hoops, then add sticky notes naming one benefit and one drawback for each resource.
Ask students to write: Should our town use more wind power, natural gas, or both, and why?
Play a matching game pairing each resource card with its correct benefit, drawback, and renewable or nonrenewable label.
Examine a local electricity source chart, then have students recommend one change and explain its benefits and drawbacks.
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Printable 4.11.A Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to 4.11.A, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
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Related Standards
- 3.11.A
explore and explain how humans use natural resources such as in construction, in agriculture, in transportation, and to make products;
- 1.11.A
identify and describe how plants, animals, and humans use rocks, soil, and water;
- 2.11.A
distinguish between natural and manmade resources; and
- 4.11.B
explain the critical role of energy resources to modern life and how conservation, disposal, and recycling of natural resources impact the environment; and
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