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6th grade · Science · Unit 13 of 17

Managing Resources

Why managing air, water, soil and energy matters, and how conservation, efficiency and technology help.

What your child practices

Practices why resource management matters for reducing energy poverty, malnutrition, and air and water pollution around the world, and how conservation, efficiency and technology help manage air, water, soil and energy resources.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 6.11(A); 6.11(B) · why resource management matters, and how conservation, efficiency and technology help

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Conservation means using less, like fixing leaky pipes.
  2. Efficiency means getting the same result with less energy, like an LED bulb.
  3. Burning fossil fuels releases pollutants, so using less improves air quality.
  4. Poor soil or scarce water can make crops fail and cause malnutrition.

Example: An LED bulb gives the same light as an old bulb using less energy. Conservation or efficiency? You get the same result. It just uses less energy to do it. Answer: efficiency

Managing Resources in Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 13 of 17 in 6th grade Science, after Seasons & Tides and before Energy Transfers & Waves.

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: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

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

    Why can using less fossil fuel improve air quality?

    • It adds oxygen
    • Burning fossil fuels releases pollutants
    • Air is not affected by fuel
    • Fossil fuels clean the air

  2. Question 2

    Which technology helps manage energy resources?

    • Burning trash in the open
    • Leaky windows
    • Old incandescent bulbs
    • Solar panels

  3. Question 3

    Cooking over open fires indoors harms health mainly by causing…

    • more vitamins
    • water pollution only
    • air pollution that damages lungs
    • colder homes

  4. Question 4

    No-till farming and cover crops help manage…

    • air travel
    • soil resources
    • electric grids
    • ocean tides

  5. Question 5

    Energy poverty means people…

    • live near power plants
    • lack reliable, affordable electricity or clean cooking fuel
    • own solar panels
    • use too much energy

  6. Question 6

    Why does resource management matter worldwide, not just locally?

    • Air and water pollution and resource shortages cross borders
    • Pollution stays in one place
    • Only one country uses energy
    • Resources are unlimited

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