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6th grade · Social Studies · Unit 7 of 9

Alaska's Resources & Economy

Subsistence, sharing, cash and managing resources

What your child practices

Subsistence, barter, sharing and cash economies in Alaska, renewable and nonrenewable resources, why Alaska's location matters to world trade, booms and busts, and how state, local and Tribal governments manage resources for the future.

Alaska content standards learning standard: SS.6.3.11.1; SS.6.3.16.2; SS.6.3.15.1 · subsistence, barter, sharing and cash economies, how Alaska's location and resources affect the state and the world, and how governments sustain resources

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Renewable resources, like salmon and trees, replace themselves; oil does not.
  2. The Alaska Constitution says resources are managed for sustained yield.
  3. Alaska depends on a few resources, so prices bring booms and busts. Fishing and seafood processing hire many in summer.

Example: Why does Alaska's economy have booms and busts? It depends on a few resources, like oil. When their prices change, the economy changes. Answer: It depends on a few resources whose prices change.

Alaska's Resources & Economy in Alaska

In the Alaska content standards, this is unit 7 of 9 in 6th grade Social Studies, after Peoples of Alaska and before Local, Tribal & State Government.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alaska Department of Education and Early Development

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Barter means…

    • borrowing from a bank
    • paying with a card
    • trading goods without using money

  2. Question 2

    In a cash economy, people…

    • only share
    • work for money and use it to buy things
    • never trade

  3. Question 3

    Alaska's seafood is sold to countries like…

    • only Antarctica
    • Japan, China and South Korea
    • no one

  4. Question 4

    A royalty is…

    • a share of the value paid to the landowner
    • a type of crown
    • a fishing license

  5. Question 5

    Why is timber less important in Alaska's economy today than in the 1980s?

    • all the trees are gone
    • big pulp mills closed
    • timber is illegal

  6. Question 6

    Why do some villages use wind turbines or solar panels?

    • diesel fuel for power is very expensive
    • the sun is always out
    • power lines reach everywhere

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