Geography · Grade 7

Active learning ideas

Types of Resources: Renewable vs. Non-renewable

Students often struggle to grasp the permanence of non-renewable depletion or the limits of renewable use, so active learning lets them manipulate real examples. Sorting cards, mapping, and simulations turn abstract concepts into tangible experiences that reveal patterns in resource availability and usage rates.

• Ontario Curriculum Expectations
• ON: Natural Resources around the World: Use and Sustainability - Grade 7

• 30–50 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 4 activities

Activity 01

• Stations Rotation
• 30 min · Pairs

Sorting Cards: Resource Classification

Prepare cards listing resources like coal, wind, timber, and uranium with descriptions. In pairs, students sort into renewable and non-renewable piles, then justify choices using renewal rates. Discuss edge cases like peat as a class.

Analyze how the unequal distribution of resources leads to global conflict.

Facilitation Tip

During Sorting Cards, provide a mix of familiar and unfamiliar resources to push students beyond surface-level assumptions about renewability.

What to look for

Present students with a list of 10 resources (e.g., solar power, diamonds, trees, coal, water, iron ore, wind, oil, natural gas, fertile soil). Ask them to categorize each as renewable or non-renewable and provide a one-sentence justification for their choice.

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Activity 02

• Case Study Analysis
• 45 min · Small Groups

Case Study Analysis: Resource-Exhausted Town

Provide profiles of towns like Detroit (auto decline tied to oil) or Kirkland Lake (gold mine closure). Small groups chart economic, social impacts and propose recovery plans. Present findings on posters.

Explain what happens to a community when its primary natural resource is exhausted.

Facilitation Tip

For the Case Study, assign roles to guide students through the town’s economic and environmental dilemmas, ensuring participation from all learners.

What to look for

Pose the question: 'Imagine your town's main industry relies on extracting a non-renewable resource that is running out. What are three immediate challenges the community would face, and what are two long-term strategies for survival?' Facilitate a class discussion, encouraging students to share their ideas.

• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Create
• Decision-Making
• Self-Management

Activity 03

• Stations Rotation
• 35 min · Pairs

Map Activity: Global Distribution

Students use world maps to plot renewable (hydro sites) and non-renewable (oil fields) hotspots. Mark conflict zones and depletion risks. Pairs add data on Canada's resources like tar sands.

Design strategies to transition to renewable energy on a global scale.

Facilitation Tip

In the Map Activity, have students overlay resource types onto political boundaries to highlight how geography shapes economies and conflicts.

What to look for

On an index card, have students write the definition of resource depletion in their own words. Then, ask them to name one specific renewable resource and one specific non-renewable resource and explain why they chose those examples.

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

Activity 04

• Stations Rotation
• 50 min · Small Groups

Design Challenge: Energy Transition

Whole class brainstorms strategies for a fictional country to switch to 50% renewables. Groups prototype models like solar farms from recyclables and pitch viability.

Analyze how the unequal distribution of resources leads to global conflict.

Facilitation Tip

During the Design Challenge, require prototypes to include a rationale that links energy choices to depletion timelines and environmental impact.

What to look for

Present students with a list of 10 resources (e.g., solar power, diamonds, trees, coal, water, iron ore, wind, oil, natural gas, fertile soil). Ask them to categorize each as renewable or non-renewable and provide a one-sentence justification for their choice.

• Remember
• Understand
• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Relationship Skills

A few notes on teaching this unit

Teachers should avoid oversimplifying renewables as ‘always available’ or non-renewables as ‘just running out.’ Instead, use data to show that renewables can be depleted locally if mismanaged, and non-renewables follow predictable depletion curves. Research suggests that students retain these concepts better when they analyze real-world timelines and economic dependencies rather than abstract definitions.

Students will confidently distinguish renewable from non-renewable resources and explain why distribution varies globally. They will analyze depletion timelines and propose sustainable solutions through collaborative tasks and data-based reasoning.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• During Sorting Cards, watch for students who categorize resources like trees or water as always renewable without considering rates of use.

  Prompt students to check the rate of regrowth or replenishment against current consumption in their justifications, using the card’s backside for notes on sustainable limits.

• During the Design Challenge, watch for students who assume switching to renewables solves all problems without considering infrastructure or economic trade-offs.

  Require students to include a section in their prototype report on the initial costs, availability of materials, and timeline for implementation in their town.

• During the Map Activity, watch for students who assume countries with abundant resources automatically have strong economies.

  Have students annotate the map with examples of resource curse or dependency, using the legend to mark countries where resource wealth has led to conflict or poverty.

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Methods used in this brief

• Stations Rotation
• Case Study Analysis