International Pencil
Goal: The ordinary American pencil is used as an example of how interdependence affects our lives.
Objectives: TLW be able to:
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Locate origins of resources used in pencil
Describe how resources were obtained
Explain the interdependence of people in different countries
Materials: Green and Black markers, world map (blank maps work best, but students will need help
locating the countries), Your International Pencil story (included); Resource cards (included)
Activities:
Show students an ordinary pencil. Ask: How much does it cost? Where do you get it? What are the parts
of it? (List wood, pencil lead, lacquer coating, metal, eraser) Remind students that all the parts of a pencil
come from some resource, which is obtained by mining or growing.
Distribute maps and pens. While you read the story of the International Pencil, each group should use a
green pen to mark where a resource is grown, and a black pen for those resources mined. (The printed
material in italics in story can be omitted and used as an example for answering the questions that follow)
Use the discussion questions that follow to discuss what they have learned about each. (Alternatively,
give each group one resource card to discuss and answer the questions in their group)
RESOURCE:
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How was this resource obtained?
How did mining or growing this resource impact the environment?
What jobs did the need for this resource create?
How was this resource moved to where it was needed?
What jobs were needed to move the resource?
PRODUCT:
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How does the product get from the factory to the market?
How does this movement impact the environment?
What jobs were needed to produce and market this product?
Discuss some world situations that could affect your access to this product:
TO THINK ABOUT…
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What if there is a storm affecting shipping of one important resource?
What if there is a truckers’ strike between factory and market?
How do you think it is possible to sell a pencil for a quarter, when the resources come from
so many distant places?
Assessment: Have students write a paragraph answering one of the following:
 Explain why people in different countries have to depend on each other.
 Describe ways people in different countries depend on each other.
 Describe at least 4 different jobs needed to make the pencil you are writing with.
YOUR INTERNATIONAL PENCIL
In these days of geographic interdependence, just looking at a map is no longer
sufficient in teaching how societies depend on each other for their individual and
collective good. Since some countries have more resources and labor skills than
others, and those resources are not evenly distributed, global interdependence has
become a reality that can reach every child through this activity. The ordinary
"American" pencil is a good example of how this interdependence affects all our
lives.
There is a pencil factory in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Where do the materials to
make a pencil come from and get to the factory?
Let's first think about the wood. Cedar trees from Oregon and California are best
for pencils because of their straight grains. The lumberjacks are dependent on
manufacturers of saws, axes, chains, and ropes. The main fiber of their ropes is a
product called sisal which is imported from Eastern Africa, Brazil, Haiti, and
Java. Transporting the logs to mills involves heavy equipment and oil products
which we obtain from Alaska, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, or the British North sea.
Logs are milled into slats which travel to assembly factories like the one in WilkesBarre, Pennsylvania.
Pencil lead is a mixture of graphite, clay, and waxes, or gums. The graphite is
mined in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon), an island in the Indian Ocean. It is
imported to America on a freighter which was probably made in Japan, registered
in Liberia to a French-Dutch shipping company, and run by an international crew.
The clay comes from Mississippi and the wax or gum is imported from Mexico.
These are added to the graphite for texture and strength.
The pencil lacquer coating is composed mainly of castor oil from beans imported
from tropical Africa. The black lettering on the pencil is a combination of carbon
black and resins manufactured in factories in Texas.
The metal bank (called the ferrule) is made of brass, an alloy of zinc and copper.
The zinc is mined in the United States, Canada, Australia, the U.S.S. R., and
Ireland. The copper is shipped from Bolivia, Chile, and Zambia.
The production of the eraser involves imports of pumice from Italy, oil from seeds
from Indonesia, and rubber (latex) from plantations in South America.
Resource Cards
Resin: Lac are scale insects (Laccifer Lacca)
which live on trees where they secrete resin
which is then scraped off and manufactured into
shellac. To produce just 1 kilogram of lac resin
takes 300,000 insects. Scale insects can be very
destructive to trees – stunting or killing twigs
and branches by draining the sap. With a 6month life cycle, the lac industry obtains two lac
crops each year from each tree. The resinencrusted branches are harvested.
Gum Rosin: There are probably more native
Pinus in Mexico than in any other country in the
world. Although many of the species are
unsuitable for tapping, a large naval-stores
industry has developed using those which are.
Although mixed stands of pines are often
tapped, the major species is T.oocarpa. Tapping
is concentrated in the states of Michoacan,
Jalisco and Mexico.
Brass: The copper and zinc are melted together,
and the brass is cast into ingots and rolled into
sheets
Castor Oil: The castor bean plant, Ricinus
communis, is a native of tropical Africa
cultivated in several varieties for the oil found
in its leaves and for its bold foliage. Castor
beans are pressed to extract castor oil.
Oil: Cotton, rapeseed, sunflower, soybean and
safflower are major oil seed crops but oil seed
crops are still minor crops due to their seasonal
nature. Oil seed gives low yield per acre. Oil
extraction from seeds further reduces its yield.
In Malaysia and Indonesia thousands acres of
land are under cultivation with all facilities
available nearby which provides economies of
scale.
Rubber is made from latex, which is produced
by hevea, or rubber, trees. The “rubber belt”
lies within 700 miles on each side of the
Equator. Trees can be tapped about 5 to 7 years
after planting for about 35 to 40 years. About a
hundred trees grow on 1 acre, and each fullgrown tree produces from 1 to 4 gallons of latex
a year. Latex is then processed into crude
rubber and manufacturers process it further and
make it into products.
Graphite: This is one of the softest minerals. It
occurs in nature as a smooth, black solid that is
greasy to the touch. It is hardened with clay to
produce the “lead” in pencils. The name comes
from a Greek word meaning to write. After it is
mined, it is ground and then purified in settling
tanks before marketing.
Pumice: This is igneous rock which was formed
when lava cooled quickly above ground. You
can see where little pockets of air had been. It
consists of a network of gas bubbles frozen
among fragile volcanic glass and minerals. This
rock is so light, that many pumice rocks will
actually float in water. Pumice is actually a kind
of glass and not a mixture of minerals.