Chapter 1 – Lesson 2 – Our Nation’s Resources – Pages 14 - 19
The important map is on p.15
Vocabulary:
*Capital Resource: a tool, machine, or building people use to produce goods and services
*Human Resource: a person and the skills and knowledge he or she brings to the job
*Scarcity: a lack of something
Opportunity Cost: the most important thing that people give up so they can have or do
something else
Conservation: the protection and careful use of natural resources
Study Questions from p.19
2. Nonrenewable resources need to be used wisely and carefully because once they are used up
they cannot be replaced.
3. Scarcity forces people to make choices because there are not enough resources to provide
people with all or everything that they want.
4. Two different types of renewable resources are: crops and wood. There are also pigs, cows,
vegetables, fruits, fish, and chickens. Two different types of nonrenewable resources are coal
and oil. There are also gems, gold, silver, nickel, and iron ore. There are only three types of
flow resources and they are: sunlight, wind, and water.
5. Opportunity cost is what results from a decision that must be made. The opportunity cost is
the option that you are unable to have because you chose something else instead.
6. People can conserve paper by making sure that entire page gets filled with information.
Also, a person can write with small, neat letters so that more information can fit. Lastly, a
person can conserve paper by using both sides. People can conserve electricity by making
certain that lights and other appliances (computers) are only turned on and plugged in when
they are needed. When nobody is in a room the lights should be turned off.
Lesson Summary:
*Natural resources, human resources, and capital resources are used to provide goods and
services.
*Because of scarcity, people make decisions about what they want most and what they can do
without.
*Conservation is one important way to preserve natural resources and use them wisely.