4-ESS3-1: Energy Resources and the Environment
Also called NGSS 4-ESS3-1 · Topic: Energy · Earth and Space Science
The Official Wording
Obtain and combine information to describe that energy and fuels are derived from natural resources and their uses affect the environment.
Clarification statement: Examples of renewable energy resources could include wind energy, water behind dams, and sunlight; non-renewable energy resources are fossil fuels and fissile materials. Examples of environmental effects could include loss of habitat due to dams, loss of habitat due to surface mining, and air pollution from burning of fossil fuels.
NGSS Lead States, 2013 · Read it on nextgenscience.org · checked October 15, 2026
What 4-ESS3-1 Means in Plain English
Fourth graders gather facts from books, videos and maps to explain that the energy we use comes from natural resources. Some sources renew, like wind, flowing water and sunlight. Others run out, like coal, oil and natural gas. Every source changes the environment somehow.
Students compare effects such as mining that tears up land, dams that flood river valleys and smoke from burning fuels. They do not calculate amounts. It connects to how energy moves (4-PS3-2) and leads to middle school work on human impact (MS-ESS3-3).
4-ESS3-1 I Can Statements
- I can name energy sources that renew and ones that run out.
- I can explain where a fuel like coal comes from.
- I can describe how using an energy source changes the environment.
4-ESS3-1 Worked Example
A hands-on model a class can run at their desks to see why digging up a fuel changes the land.
What happens to the land when people mine a fuel like coal?
Set It Up: An oatmeal raisin cookie on centimeter grid paper, two toothpicks, and a reading card about coal mining.
- Trace the cookie on the grid paper and count the squares it covers.Land before mining: about 50 squares
- Dig out every raisin with toothpicks only. The raisins stand for coal.Crumbs everywhere, cookie cracked
- Try to fit the pieces back inside the traced outline.The cookie will not go back together
- Count the squares now covered by crumbs outside the outline.Damage spread past the mine
- Read the coal card and list how real mining is like the model.Land dug up, habitats lost
Getting the raisins out broke the cookie apart, and it could not be put back the way it was.
Why it works: Fuels like coal sit underground, so getting them means digging up land, which destroys habitats and is very hard to undo.
Common Mistakes with 4-ESS3-1
Thinking renewable means no effects
“Wind power doesn't hurt anything.”
Try this: Every source has some effect. Wind turbines need land and can harm birds, and dams flood valleys, though both avoid burning fuel.
Thinking power starts at the outlet
“Electricity just comes from the wall.”
Try this: Trace it back. The outlet connects to wires from a power plant, and the plant uses wind, water, sunlight or fuel to make electricity.
Calling a plentiful fuel renewable
Listing coal as renewable because there is a lot of it
Try this: Ask whether nature replaces it within a human lifetime. Coal takes millions of years to form, so it is nonrenewable.
Where 4-ESS3-1 Fits
Practice 4-ESS3-1
Quick Check
- Is sunlight renewable or nonrenewable? Why?
- Name one way burning coal affects the environment.
- How can a dam that makes electricity change a river valley?