Student Learning Map
Name:
Course/Subject:
Topic: Inside the Earth and Plate Tectonics
Date:
Team:
School District:
Key Learning: The physical processes that shape Earth’s surfaces.
How do physical processes shape Earth’s surfaces?
Concept:
Earth’s
Structure
Concept:
Lithospheric Plates
Concept:
Geologic Events
Concept:
Physical Processes
Concept:
Subsurface
Topography
of the
Ocean
Lesson
Essential
Questions:
What are
the layers of
the Earth?
Lesson Essential
Questions:
What is Pangaea?
Lesson Essential
Questions:
What is seafloor
spreading?
Lesson Essential
Questions:
How do plate
tectonics shape
Earth’s oceans?
What are
the
simplified
layers of the
Earth?
What is
continental drift?
Lesson
Essential
Questions:
What are
the names
of the
major
oceans?
What are
the detailed
layers of the
Earth?
What is
density?
What is the
What was Alfred
Wegener’s theory?
Why was his
theory not
accepted?
What are tectonic
plates?
What are the three
types of tectonic
plate boundaries?
What are
convergent
What are the results of
seafloor spreading?
What happens at the
different plate
boundaries?
How do volcanoes
occur?
What causes
earthquakes?
What causes
tsunamis?
How are mountains
How do physical
processes shape
Earth’s landforms?
How do physical
processes change
the composition and
currents of the
world’s oceans?
What are convection
currents?
How do tectonic
plates move?
Where are
the major
oceans
located?
What are
the oceans
from
largest to
smallest?
What is
Student Learning Map
composition
of the
Earth’s
layers?
What is the
temperature
of the
Earth’s
layers?
How did the
study of
seismic
waves help
scientists
diagram the
interior of
the Earth?
Vocabulary:
Continental
Crust
Oceanic
Composition
Crust
Density
Mantle
Outer core
Inner core
Moho
Magnetic
field
Lithosphere
Asthenosphere
Seismic
waves
Models
S-waves
P-waves
Temperature
Pressure
boundaries?
formed?
salinity?
What are
divergent
boundaries?
What is the Ring of
Fire?
Where
does the
salt in the
ocean
come
from?
What are
transform
boundaries?
Where is the Ring of
Fire located?
What are
the factors
that affect
salinity of
Earth’s
oceans?
What is a
subduction zone?
Does Earth’s
circumference
become larger
over time because
of plate tectonics?
Vocabulary:
Subduction
Convergent
Divergent
Transform Fault
Boundaries
Lithosphere
Pangaea
Continental Drift
Plate Tectonics
How does
water
movement
affect
salinity?
Vocabulary:
Earthquakes
Seismographs
Richter scale
Fold Mountains
Sea-floor spreading
Faults
Geological features
Ring of Fire
Vocabulary:
Gravity
Erosion
Deposition
Volcanic eruption
Convection cells
Vocabulary:
Salinity
Haline
Thermal
Thermohaline
Pacific
Atlantic
Indian
Arctic
Southern
Mid-ocean
ridges
Seamounts
Guyot
Rift valleys
Trenches
Continental
shelf
Continental
slope
Abyssal
plain
Student Learning Map
Molten
Solid
Bathymetric
maps
Topographical
Maps
Additional Information/Resources:
Interactive Website for Earth’s layers:
http://scign.jpl.nasa.gov/learn/plate1.htm
United Streaming Segment:
Earth is a Giant Magnet
Earth’s Interior and Plate Tectonics
http://library.thinkquest.org/17457/platetectonics/1.php
Enchanted Learning: Earth’s Oceans and Topography
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/planets/earth/
Oceans.shtml
United Streaming video: Oceans: Earth’s Last Frontier
United Streaming video: Greatest Discoveries with Bill Nye: Earth Science
United Streaming video: What's Inside the Earth?: An Introduction to the
Earth's Interior, Crust, and Mineral Resources
BrainPoP: Earth’s Structure
BrainPop: Plate Tectonics
BrainPop: Ocean Floor
BrainPop: Oceans
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