Explain Plate Tectonics in Basic Terms. Giving Cause and Effects of These Processes

Alex Michels [email protected]

Title: Plate Tectonics

Objective Explain plate tectonics in basic terms. Giving cause and effects of these processes Materials needed Maps Scissors Pencil White board Time duration 50-60 minutes Vocabulary Sea-floor spreading Continental drift Plate tectonics Ocean plates Continental plates Plate convergence Plate divergence Subduction Transform Fault aging ocean plates continental collision convection core crust density driving force geologic features mantle convection mountain belts mountain ranges plate boundaries tectonic plates

Introduction/Description Talk about history (theory and about Alfred Wegener) and simple idea, using hand demo. Discuss cause (convection, density). Activity Give map of the world and have students (in groups) recreate Pangaea from continents, using the map of plate boundaries (would help if they have some knowledge of what is where, divergent and convergent boundaries) Then give map of Pangaea to compare. Using this new map they can mark on the plate map what boundaries based on the before and after if they didn’t know already.

Conclusion If one wanted, the students could vote one which map looks the best (correct and most presentable) and the group that wins gets something extra.

Assessment/Evaluation Hold a question session, where the students can come up with questions that can be asked the whole class, competing for points or the teacher comes up with questions in the same manner as shown below

1. Do plates move horizontally, vertically, or both?______

2. What do plates float on?______

3. What type of rock are oceanic plates made of?______

4. What type of rock are continental plates made of?______

5. What is the name of the are where the crust goes back down into the Earth? ______

6. What is the process of new crust formation called? ______

7. When two continental plates collide, what types of mountains are formed? ______

8. What is the name of the supercontinent that existed about 200 million through 100 million years ago? ______

9. Who first stated the theory of continental drift? ______10. Name a fossil that was found on different continents and was used to support the theory of continental drift. ______

Resources http://teachingtoday.glencoe.com/lessonplans/wegener-and-plate-tectonics-a-hands-on-lesson for question http://www.iun.edu/~geos/Zoran%20IUN/G%20101/Sample%20Tests/QuizPlateTectonics.htm http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/activities/findit/qtectonics.shtml