Module Two - Resources and Industry

• interdependence, resources, industries, economy, entrepreneurship

Students will know that:

• Saskatchewan has a variety of resources.
• industry depends on resources.
• resources should be used responsibly.
• entrepreneurial ventures are important to the economy of the province.

Students will:

• access, organize and present information.
• make connections among resources, industry, employment, economy, conservation, and meeting needs.

Students will:

• value the province's resources.

Students may:

• participate in an economic venture.

• Use maps and other resources to identify natural resources found in the province. Students may use the telephone, fax, computer, and letters to access more specific information about resources and industries in the province.
• Have students collect magazine and newspaper articles and pictures related to resources and industries. Use the materials for display and file them in the school library.
• Identify how resources are used and describe their value.
• Have students, individually or in groups, select a resource for research purposes. Have students identify connections between the resource and employment, products, transportation, and economic benefits.
• Explore environmental impacts of using various resources. The teacher may choose to use the enclosed Student Information Page: Using resources or adapt it to feature a local issue. Guide the students to understand that using resources has many consequences.
• If possible plan experiences with resources and/or industry. Invite a person who sells fertilizer to speak to the class about potash and the production, sale, and uses of fertilizer. Plan a visit to a factory or lumber yard. Test the water in a nearby creek. Go for a walk in a nearby forest or field to sketch various resources.
• Guide students to make connections between/among resources, industry, employment, economy, and meeting needs.
• In dealing with the transportation industry, the teacher may choose to take an historical perspective, and have students trace developments and compare technologies of the past and present.
• To introduce the concepts related to economics, have the students set up or simulate a classroom business. Produce a good such as greeting cards to sell.
• Explore entrepreneurship and how it relates to the province's economy.

Module 2: Activity Guide

Some pertinent information that may be incorporated in this study includes the following:

• Saskatchewan has many resources;
• resources are the foundation of industries such as mining, fishing, forestry, and agriculture;
• industries such as food processing, steel making, and milling are located as near as possible to resources, transportation routes, power sources, labourers, and markets;
• production is related to factors such as availability of resources, transportation, and markets;
• cottage industry refers to production in people's homes and workshops;
• service industries occur where they are needed;
• larger communities offer a wider range of services;
• transportation, communication, education, banking, and retailing are some examples of service industries;
• the connection between services and needs and wants;
• technology used in industry changes; and
• sustainable development.

Some Saskatchewan resources and related industries the teacher may choose to deal with include mining, forestry, uranium, coal, petroleum, natural gas, potash, wildlife, energy production, and water.

Integrate with science by learning about the natural forces that created Saskatchewan resources. For example, potash was formed by the evaporation of a great sea that covered southern Saskatchewan many millions of year ago. Make a chart, model, or creative dance sequence telling how each resource was created.

Identify Saskatchewan's natural resources and how we use them. For example, farm land for crops; boreal forest for lumber; lakes and rivers for fishing and tourism; minerals such as potash and uranium for export.

Have groups research one of Saskatchewan's resources. Topics for research include:

• location;
• nearest major city;
• nearest major water source;
• types of jobs created;
• worth to the province;
• methods of harvest/extraction;
• methods of processing/refining;
• methods of transportation;
• environmental concerns; and
• markets including local and global.

Determine interdependencies that are created by the use of the natural resources. For example, the potash industry provides jobs in mining, in fertilizers plants, in transportation, and it influences lives in the countries to which we export it. Web ideas or make a pictorial flow chart.

Develop understandings about resource extraction and the far ranging positive and negative effects of their use. Should we have concerns about using natural resources? For example, by mining potash, are we jeopardizing the lives of other creatures, or creating problems beneath the surface? Cutting large areas of forest may provide jobs, but can also destroy habitat, cause soil erosion, and river siltation.

Use the Student Information Page: Using resources to explore some of the issues. Divide the class into groups of 7. Give each student a statement to support. Give the group a limited time to come to some agreement about the coal mining venture in the community. If there is a local issue, use it in a similar way.

Conservation

Make a class chart or graph using appropriate environmental language such as reuse, reduce, replace. Brainstorm to suggest ideas for reusing or replacing some things we throw out.

Explore the connection between lifestyle, technology and environment. We use technology to improve our lifestyles, but at what cost to the environment?

View the filmstrip "People and Resources" from the Saskatchewan Past and Present kit.

Select one of Saskatchewan's resources. Prepare a report or other presentation such as a rap, drama, skit, creative dance, mural, pamphlet to show ways this resource can be conserved and protected.

Select some Saskatchewan resources and link ways they are of value. For example, forests supply lumber and paper for various products, homes for birds and animals, and places for camping and hiking. Make connections between resources, sustainability, and jobs.

Using one resource such as oil, explore its far reaching effects by having students speculate what we would have and not have if it were not available. Consider changes in terms of the environment, economy, and well- being of society.

Resource - potash

Invite someone who sells fertilizer to speak to your class. Explore the effect of potash on growing plants. Learn how to read the label on a fertilizer bag to find the potash content.

Experiment to discover the effect of potash on plants. Obtain two small house plants of the same type and same size. Water one regularly but do not fertilize it. Put a fertilizer that contains potash on the other. Integrate with maths skills as you chart the plants' growth and interpret the chart.

Which potash mine is nearest your community? Visit the mine or write asking for information and samples. What mining method is used? What kinds of jobs are available?

Resources - oil, natural gas

View the filmstrip "Petroleum - Scarcity, Choice and Trade Off" from the Saskatchewan Past and Present kit. Discuss the meaning of each word in the ti tle.

Many different products are made from oil and natural gas, ranging from petroleum jelly to plastics to fabrics. List products made from petroleum. Use reference books. Bring samples to class. Rank them in order of those you think you need the most to those you need the least. Use the kit Petroleum.

In small groups, list or web the electrical appliances used by your family, both outdoors and indoors. Discuss which items are most important and why. Rank them by importance individually and compare results.

Pretend there is an energy crisis and your family is allowed only five electrical appliance or tools (aside from a fridge and stove). On your own, write down the five items your family would keep. Compare your list with others in your group. Check your list with family members. Would they make the same choices?

Coal, oil, gas, and uranium are all used to produce power. They are all nonrenewable resources. Once they are used up, they are gone forever. How can we conserve energy, so that we do not use it up so quickly? In small groups, list things you and your families can do to conserve energy. List things government and industries can do to conserve energy.

Survey the community to determine to what degree it is sustainable. Questions to be asked of homeowners could include:

• How many bags of garbage are thrown out weekly?
• How many refrigerators are there in the home?
• Is air conditioning used in the home?
• How many kilometres are put on the car weekly?
• Do the homeowners use compost methods?

• common findings;
• unusually high or low numbers.

Prepare Saskatchewan Wildlife Posters. Select Saskatchewan plants and/or animals. Things to find out include:

• the area of the province and the type of environment in which the plant or animal lives;
• the life cycle of the organism;
• ways Indian peoples may have used this organism;
• the ways the organism is used today, for example, some trees are used for lumber, some animals are trapped for fur; and
• needs of the organism for survival.

Some of Saskatchewan's wildlife is edible. Interview parents, grandparents, or neighbours to collect recipes for cooking dishes such as Saskatoon pie, chokecherry jelly, moose casserole, fish, deer sausage, elk steak, wild rice, moose nose, beaver tail, pickerel cheeks, and bone marrow. Compile the recipes into booklets and distribute them to all class members. You may want to make a gift of a recipe book to each person who gave you a recipe. Use resources such as:
Let's Go Berrypicking! Berry Picker's Manual
The Northern Food Guide
Resource Reader
Saskatchewan Trapper Training Manual
Collect pictures of fish that live in Saskatchewan waters. Use parents and members of the community as resource people to gather information about the fishing techniques suitable for each type of fish. For information about Saskatchewan fish species and related issues, contact:

Saskatchewan Environment and Resource
Management
3211 Albert St.
Regina, S4S 5W6
Tel: 787-2700

Tourism Saskatchewan
1919 Saskatchewan Drive
Regina, SK

Find out where your community gets its water supply. The following resources: Drinking Water Chlorination brochure, KIFact Sheets on Water, series of 5 booklets, Be Water-Wise...It Makes Cents, a series of six brochures, The Lake Book: Actions You Can Take to Protect Your Lake, A Guide to Aquatic Nuisances and Their Control, Municipal Drinking Water Quality Objectives, Primer on Water, Surface Water Quality Objectives can be ordered from:

Saskatchewan Environment
and Resource
Management
3085 Albert Street
Regina, SK
S4S 0B1
Tel: 1-800-567-4224
or in Regina: 787-0016

Use the telephone, fax, computer, and letters, to access information about industry in Saskatchewan.

Learn about technology used in industries and how the technology is changing.

Consider whether or not each industry uses sustainable approaches. Research an industry and set up a learning centre for classmates.

Incorporate Indian and Métis and northern content by learning about northern industries and industries on reserves and in Métis communities.

The industries students learn about may be subject to student interests, current events, location of local community, and available learning resources. The teacher may want to choose industries that are the focus of current events at the time.

Make connections between industry and population distribution, availability of raw materials needed for the industry, and availability of services such as transportation. Use maps and graphs to locate and/or record information.

Learn about service industries. Suggestions include:

• large and small manufacturing
• cottage industries
• Indian and Métis businesses
• sports (professional and amateur)
• the tourist industry
  • parks, golf courses
  • the restaurant industry
  • resorts - fishing, hunting, hotels
  • ecotourism - hiking, canoeing, bird watching, photography, sailing, camping

Visit a factory. Make a cumulative book for Kindergarten or grade 1 students based on production in the factory. Use a familiar song or chant such as Old McDonald as a framework around which to build the text. Every page could show another step in the production process line.

Write to Saskatchewan Department of Economic Development, 1919 Saskatchewan Drive, Regina, S4P 5V7 to request information on Saskatchewan's industries or Saskatchewan Mining Association, 1740 Avord Tower, 2002 Victoria Avenue, Regina, S4P 0R7 for information about mining in Saskatchewan.

Collect newspaper and magazine clippings, pictures, and brochures about Saskatchewan industries. Make a display. Use the information to find out the area of the province where different products exist naturally, are grown, or manufactured. Mark the location of each industry on a wall map of Saskatchewan.

Discuss how every industry begins with raw materials. These raw materials are processed in some way to create a finished product. Include in the display, pictures of the raw materials, the processes used, and the finished products. Link these with arrows.

Compare the location of these industries to the map of vegetation regions and to the map of Saskatchewan cities. For each industry, speculate on reasons why it is located in that particular area. Reasons might include availability of resources, transportation, labour force, market, type of soil, or climate.

Research an industry. Include:

• What is the raw material(s)?
• How is it obtained?
• Who does the work, and where do they live?
• How is the raw material changed into a product? Who does this work?
• What products are sold?
• Who sells the finished product?
• Who buys the finished product (what country)?
• How is the product transported to its destination?

Industry - communication

Prepare a collage or mural showing ways people in Saskatchewan communicate. Include word of mouth, newspapers, magazines, letters, telephone, radio, television, and more. Expand into the past and the future. Illustrate ways that people in Saskatchewan communicated 100, 200, 300 years ago. What types of communication will be common 5, 10, or 100 years from now?

Visit the office of newspaper, radio, or television stations. Investigate the way news is gathered as well as the technical aspects of printing and broadcasting.

Divide into small groups and discuss what the effects would be on individuals, business people, and farmers if television were no longer available. Discuss:

• How would people get daily news?
• What would people do for entertainment in the evenings and on weekends?
• How would your life be affected if you could not see the daily weather report? How would farmers' lives be affected?
• Would the way your family spends its time be different?
• Many businesses advertise their products and services on television. How would these businesses let you know about their products or services?
• Many people have jobs in television stations as technicians or announcers. Others work to sell and repair televisions. How would these people be affected?

Extend this study to include other types of communication. For instance, what would happen if we had no telephones? newspapers?

The telephone came into use in some urban areas of Saskatchewan in the late 1880's. The majority of Saskatchewan residents did not receive phone service until much later. Make a collage showing different types of telephones. Use Telephones Through the Ages available from SaskTel, Public Relations Dept., 2121 Saskatchewan Drive, Regina. Visit a local museum to see telephones used in the past.

Interview a senior citizen about life before telephones. How did people share good news? What did they do in emergencies? Did they visit and write letters more or less frequently?

Discuss the impact that computers, cell phones, or C.B. radios have had on farmers' lives.

• How have they helped the farm husband?
• How have they helped the farm wife?
• How have they helped the children?
• How can they help in other situations such as emergencies?

There is an FM radio station in La Ronge called CBC Keewatin. Write a letter or fax this station and ask for information. Is there a rule about `northern content'? Do Indian and Métis peoples have programs or speakers? Is this the only radio station serving the north?

Use the Student Information Page: Technology and Business as a case study about a Saskatchewan business woman to develop understandings about technology, communication, and business.

In groups, have students consider the following question: Once Lin Yuan Yuan has identified Chinese people and Saskatchewan people who want to do business, what methods can she use to establish communication between them? Compile lists and then share ideas. Discuss Lin Yuan Yuan as an entrepreneur.

Industry - producing electricity

In Saskatchewan electrical generating plants can be fuelled by coal or gas or operated by water. Write to SaskPower for information about the production of electricity. Collect newspaper clippings. Prepare a presentation outlining the advantages and disadvantages of each method. Consider cost, effect on the environment (air pollution, effect on land and animals), side benefits (creation of facilities for recreation or irrigation), extent to which resources are used up.

Locate Tobin Lake, Lake Diefenbaker, and Sandy Bay on a highway map. The power generating plants at Gardiner Dam and Island Falls operate on the same principle as the old fashioned waterwheel. Obtain pictures of an old fashioned waterwheel. Compare the method of operation and the work done by the waterwheel and the turbines in the dam.

Find out how wind power or solar energy can be used by interviewing someone in your community who uses this source of power. Identify technology, such as calculators, powered by solar energy.

Forest industries

Visit a lumber store. Which woods are produced in Saskatchewan? Which are imported from other provinces or other countries. Locate these places on a map.

Have students research the pulp and paper industry. If possible, make some paper in class, visit a place that makes it, or visit a place that uses a lot of paper like a major newspaper facility.

Industries related to wildlife

Learn about industries related to wildlife. Research various types of leather or fur clothing or other goods (luggage, saddles, purses, furniture) and chart their sources. Use Make a Coat p. 63 of Project Wild.

Explore the differences between poaching and angling and hunting. Have student reflect upon the ways poaching impacts on the environment. Invite a conservation officer to talk to the class about poaching, how to identify poachers, and what to do if you suspect someone may be poaching.

Industry - tourism

Learn about the tourist industry in the north and/or on reserves includes activities such as hunting, fishing, canoeing, golfing, and camping. Contact reserves in your region requesting information about their involvement in the tourist industry. Use People of the Forest.

Learn about and visit Wanuskewin Heritage Park.

Industry - ecotourism.

Ecotourism may be defined as tourism that involves travel to relatively undisturbed or uncontaminated natural areas with the specific objective of studying, admiring, and enjoying the scenery and its wild plants and animals, as well as any cultural aspects found in these areas. In the early 1990's Ecotourism was the fasters growing sector of the tourism industry. It was a powerful force for public education, for the conservation of nature, and the establishment of protected areas in many parts of the world.

Explore issues related to ecotourism, for example, the impact of ecotourism on the plants and animals in the wild.

Mark wildlife viewing locations on a map of Saskatchewan. Identify species that may be viewed.

Investigate the potential of ecotourism in your area. How could you facilitate ecotourism without damaging the environment? Submit the results of your investigation to your local tourism board or to city hall. Use the Resource Reader.

Determine the importance of ecotourism to the tourist industry at the present time and forecast the future of ecotourism.

The Saskatchewan Watchable Wildlife Association Inc. may be contacted for further information at:

Box 221
Hafford, SK S0J 1A0
Tel: 549-2400
Fax: 549-2304

Many people earn part or all of their year's income fighting forest fires. Conservation Officers say that a new approach to fire control involves deliberate burning of the forest to get rid of old wood. This burning is done in the early spring before the sap begins to run. Removal of the dead wood decreases the risk of forest fires. This approach to forest fire control could put many people out of work. Explore this issue.

Saskatchewan was one of the first provinces to use planes for fighting forest fires. Find out more about forest fire fighting methods and how they have changed over the years.

Learn about planes, helicopters, and other technology used in fighting forest fires. Make sketches or models of the specially designed planes. For information about the planes and helicopters, such as, where they are made, where they are stored, and repair and maintenance contact:

G.T. Rowan
Operations Manager
Northern Air Service
Saskatchewan Environment
and Resource Management
LaRonge, SK S0J 1L0

Smokey Bear Program
Brian Wright
Forest Fire Management
Box 3003
Highway 2 North
Prince Albert, SK S6V 6G1
Tel: 953-3473

Use Focus on Forests. See the subject index, and:

• p. 191 New Paper From Old
• p. 194 Visit to a Saw Mill
• p. 197 The Forest Sponge
• p. 218 Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
• p. 222 The Lorax
• p. 224 Sylvan Stewardship
• p. 225 Recycling
• p. 229 A Slice of Life

Write to a school in northern Saskatchewan asking for information about transportation in the north. Ask about ice roads, bush pilots, snowmobiles, and boats or barges.

Write to a school in southern Saskatchewan asking for information about transportation in the south. Ask about city travel and farm vehicles.

Learn about the fleet of aircraft that move people and goods in northern Saskatchewan. Write to an airline company such as Athabasca Airways or Airsask Aviation 1991 for information. Consult aviation maps used by pilots.

Aeronautical Information
Publication
Enroute Low Altitudes
Government of Canada
Department of Energy and
Mines

Arora brings business people in China together with business people in Canada. Sometimes Chinese business people come to Saskatchewan to see businesses before they make decisions to invest their money.

Act as if you are Arora. You have just received a fax from a group of Chinese investors who want to come to Saskatchewan to see some businesses before making an investment. You must take care of all their travel arrangements.

List all the methods of transportation these investors must take from the time they leave their homes. When the investors are in Saskatchewan you will take them to various communities all over Saskatchewan. Using maps showing transportation routes, plan the trip. Include a business in northern Saskatchewan.

Saskatchewan's economy

Teacher background

Information concerning the Saskatchewan economy may include the following:

• resources and industries along with money and trade combine to create Saskatchewan's economy;
• attracting investors is important to Saskatchewan's economy;
• money is used for the exchange of goods and services;
• selling the goods and services we produce to others is important to our economy;
• basic concepts related to economics such as barter, markets, distribution, cost, and profit;
• entrepreneurship is needed to meet today's problems and to plan for the future; and
• entrepreneurs may address problems in areas such as lifestyles, agriculture, business, and the environment.

To introduce the concepts of economics (distribution, market, profit, scarcity), set up or simulate a classroom business.

Produce a good such as greeting cards to sell. Plan the activity, discussing division of labour, cost of production, packaging, mark-up, selling price, targeted market, profits, and marketing strategies.

Groups of students may work on an assembly line to make and package the product, be in charge of marketing, and sell the product. Speculate on the outcome if there had not been a market for their product. Make connections, helping students understand factors that lead to a healthy economy.

Consider alternatives to selling the greeting cards. Perhaps the cards could have been traded for another good or service. Develop understandings about trading without exchanging money. Have students give examples of how they use this technique. Have students identify a good or service they are willing to trade for another good or service.

ABEX

Learn about the ABEX (Achievement in Business Excellence) awards that are awarded to outstanding Saskatchewan businesses each year. Find out information, about the various categories, and businesses that have received awards in these categories. Learn about the winners in the current year. Are there any trends? What predictions can be made about future winners? Interview someone from your community who has won this award. Identify characteristics of entrepreneurial behaviour. Does the business practice sustainable development? Learn about similar awards in your own community.

News stories about the economy

Make a display of all the stories in one edition of a daily and a weekly newspaper that deal with Saskatchewan's economy. This would include news stories, agriculture and business stories, construction industry reports, editorials, advertising, consumer columns, financial advice, real estate stories, and figures on unemployment. Locate the places mentioned in the stories on a map of Saskatchewan.

Co-operatives

Saskatchewan has a large number of co-operative businesses. Since pioneer times, Saskatchewan people have found that when people work together, they can meet their needs right in their own community.

Find out all the forms of co- operative business in your community. Co-ops include curling rinks, grocery stores, credit unions, day cares, and feed lots. Visit one or two of these businesses, and find out how they got started in your community. (The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool is a co-operative and is one of the biggest businesses in Saskatchewan.)

Imports and exports

Make a list of all things that your family can provide for itself. Make another list of all the things that your family obtains from other people. Make a third list showing the way your family helps other people.

Where do our clothes come from? Look at clothing labels. These labels often tell where the item was made. Make a list of all the places where the clothing worn by your classmates is manufactured. Find these countries or provinces on a world map.

Where was your family car was made? Report to the class. Make a class list showing where cars used in Saskatchewan are made. Alternately, record the types of cars parked in the school parking lot. Talk to a car dealer to find out where each one was made.

Where do books you use in school originate? Select 20 to 24 books at random from the school library. Look at the title page of each to find out where it was published. Use Sampling to develop understanding about random sampling. Apply the understandings to the above inquiry and others.

Below is a partial list of some of the locations to which Saskatchewan products are exported. Collect clippings of newspaper articles that discuss Saskatchewan's exports. Use the information from the clippings to complete and update the list of exports below.

Wheat     -    China, Russia, United States
Potash    -    China, United States, Japan, Brazil
Coal      -    Manitoba, Ontario, United States
Oil       -    United States, Ontario 
Uranium   -    United States
Wild Rice -    United States, Europe