Grade 7 · Social Studies · Unit 4 of 10
Natural Resources
Renewable, non-renewable and flow
What your child practises
Renewable, non-renewable and flow resources, how a resource's location shapes how it is taken and used, and the short- and long-term effects on people and the environment, including reading GIS map layers.
Ontario Curriculum expectation: Geography B1.1, B1.2, B3.1–B3.3, B3.6 · types of natural resources, how they are extracted and used, and their effects
Sample questions
A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.
Question 1
Rock is quarried and made into…
- building materials and road base
- drinking water
- sunlight
- wind power
Show answer
building materials and road base
Hint: Gravel, crushed stone and cement come from quarries.
Question 2
Renewable, non-renewable or flow resource? Sort each one.
Sort into: 🌳 renewable · ⛏️ non-renewable · 🌊 flow
- 🌬️wind
- ⛏️nickel ore
- ☀️sunlight
- 🌲forests
- 🔥natural gas
- 🐟wild fish stocks
Show answer
🌳 renewable: forests, wild fish stocks · ⛏️ non-renewable: nickel ore, natural gas · 🌊 flow: wind, sunlight
Hint: Renewable resources can be replaced naturally if they are not overused (forests, fish stocks). Non-renewable resources take millions of years to form (oil, coal, metals). Flow resources keep arriving (sunlight, wind, tides, running water).
Question 3
Open-pit mining is mostly used when…
- the ore is far underground
- the ore has already been mined
- the ore is close to the surface
- the ore is underwater
Show answer
the ore is close to the surface
Hint: Deep ore needs shafts and tunnels instead.
Question 4
A forest can be a renewable resource only if…
- no seeds are ever planted
- trees are cut more slowly than they regrow
- it is never visited
- all the trees are cut at once
Show answer
trees are cut more slowly than they regrow
Hint: Sustainable harvesting leaves time for the forest to recover.
Question 5
Which is the best example of how location affects how a resource is used?
- Resources are equally easy to reach everywhere
- All oil is found on the beach
- Offshore oil needs drilling platforms at sea, so it is harder and costlier to reach
- Location never affects costs
Show answer
Offshore oil needs drilling platforms at sea, so it is harder and costlier to reach
Hint: Access shapes the method and the cost.
Question 6
A map shows that a forest company and a river both cross the same area. Why might that matter?
- Logging only matters in deserts
- Rivers cannot be harmed by logging
- Trees make the river flow backwards
- Logging near the river can affect water, fish and soil
Show answer
Logging near the river can affect water, fish and soil
Hint: Cut trees no longer hold soil or shade the water.