KS3 SCIENCE
Curriculum link: Earth and Atmosphere
PLATE TECTONICS LESSON PLAN
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Introduce students to the theory of plate tectonics.

Resources required: Map of the World, Internet connection, Paper for a table

1. FIRE STARTER
Students look at a World map or at a duplicated map and
look for visual evidence that the world continents were
once joined up. Clues could be:

Shapes of land

Continued mountain chains across different
continents
Other clues could be fossils, change of climate causing
desert rocks in Britain and coal formed in equatorial
conditions found in Antarctica, these would not be
obvious from the maps but the teacher could introduce
these.
2. GAINING GROUND
Students look at the structure of the earth, either from a
diagram
or
an
internet
source
(such
as
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/earth/platetectonics/earth-structure/index.html) to understand the
fragility of the earth’s crust and have the convection
currents of the upper mantle explained. They can then
look at the types of plate boundary associated with that
convection.
They
can
use
a
duplicated
map
such
as
http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/world_map.html
and
the internet to research the names of the main plates, such
as: Pacific Plate, Cocos Plate, North American Plate, Nazca
Plate and South American Plate.
3.
MAKING WAVES
Students look at the features associated with different types
of plate boundary and create a table of the features
associated with each boundary.
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/earth/platetectonics/earth-structure/index.html is useful for further
information for an extension activity.
4. FUTURE FOCUS
Students
look
at
a
map
such
as
http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/world_map.html
and
note where volcanoes and earthquakes occur. They should
also look at the hotspots, such as the Galapagos which are
not necessarily on plate boundaries. These hotspots can be
plotted on a world map.
A RESOURCE BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE GALAPAGOS CONSERVATION TRUST (REGISTERED CHARITY NO. 1043470) AND THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY
To understand that the earth's crust is
not stable and that it is broken up into
plates
To understand that these plates are
constantly moving in different ways
STUDENTS’ OUTCOMES


To identify different types of plate
boundaries
To locate plate boundaries and
hotspots