The Building Blocks: Types of Resources
Explore the different kinds of resources used to make things. We will learn about natural resources from the earth, human resources from people's work, and capital resources like tools and machines.
About This Topic
Explore the different kinds of resources used to make things. We will learn about natural resources from the earth, human resources from people's work, and capital resources like tools and machines.
Key Questions
- Identify a natural, a human, and a capital resource used to make your classroom desk.
- Explain why a teacher is considered a human resource.
- Compare a natural resource like wood with a capital resource like a saw.
Active Learning Ideas
See all activities→Activities & Teaching Strategies
See all activities
More in Economics and Business
Needs and Wants
Learn to tell the difference between things we must have to live, like food and water (needs), and things we would like to have, like toys and video games (wants).
8 methodologies
Not Enough for Everyone: Limited Resources
Discover why we cannot have everything we want. We will explore the idea of scarcity, which means that resources like time, money, and materials are limited.
8 methodologies
Making Economic Choices
Because resources are limited, we have to make choices. Let's investigate how people decide what to buy, what to save, and what to go without.
8 methodologies
From Resources to Goods
Find out how different resources are combined to produce goods, which are physical items you can touch and use, like a bicycle or a lunchbox.
8 methodologies
People Helping People: Services
Learn about services, which are jobs that people do to help others. Unlike goods, you cannot hold a service, like a haircut, a bus ride, or a dental check-up.
8 methodologies
Producers and Consumers
Understand the roles people play in our economy. We will look at producers, who make goods and provide services, and consumers, who use or buy them.
8 methodologies