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7th grade · Science · Unit 11 of 14

Resources & Hazards

Where resources are found, forecasting hazards, and human impact.

What your child practices

Practices why minerals, fuels and groundwater are unevenly spread because of past geologic processes, how hazard data help forecast events like hurricanes and floods, and designing ways to reduce human impact, such as the salt beds under central New York and flood maps of its coast.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: MS-ESS3-1; MS-ESS3-2; MS-ESS3-3 · the uneven distribution of Earth's resources, forecasting natural hazards, and reducing human impact on the environment

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Minerals, fuels and groundwater are found where past geologic processes put them, such as salt from ancient seas.
  2. A nonrenewable resource forms much more slowly than we use it.
  3. Hazard data, like hurricane forecasts, give people time to prepare.

Example: Is coal renewable or nonrenewable? Coal took millions of years to form. We use it far faster than that. Answer: nonrenewable

Resources & Hazards in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 11 of 14 in 7th grade Science, after Earth's Changing Surface and before Protecting Biodiversity.

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: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

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

    Volcano scientists watch for warning signs such as…

    • small earthquakes and ground swelling
    • rainbows
    • more birds singing
    • cooler weather

  2. Question 2

    Mapping where floods happened before helps…

    • plan where not to build
    • make more floods
    • stop rain
    • move rivers

  3. Question 3

    Why are mineral resources found only in some places?

    • They fall from the sky
    • Past geologic processes concentrated them there
    • People put them there
    • They grow like plants

  4. Question 4

    Green roofs and permeable pavement reduce…

    • sunlight
    • rainfall
    • earthquakes
    • polluted runoff

  5. Question 5

    Rain gardens and green roofs in New York City help by…

    • soaking up stormwater before it floods streets and sewers
    • raising the sea level
    • adding pollution to rivers
    • making more runoff

  6. Question 6

    Why do some regions have more geothermal energy?

    • They have more trees
    • They are windier
    • They are near volcanic activity
    • They are sunnier

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