Kira Schall Lesson Plan
Secondary Education
Grade level
/subject
8th grade Physical Science
Context
description
This is after students have briefly been introduced to what plate tectonics are and
why they are important. This will be going into a lab/lesson on plotting earthquakes
using latitude/longitude, to find these boundaries. This will also be going into a
lesson on what the different types of waves that result from this plate motion
ES 8.10: Explain that most major geological events (e.g. earthquakes, volcanic
eruptions, hot spots and mountain building) result from plate motion.
Standards meet
Concept
addressed
ES 8.15: Illustrate how the three primary types of plate boundaries (transform,
divergent and convergent) cause different landforms (e.g. mountains, volcanoes and
ocean trenches.)
Plate Boundaries and a brief history of plate tectonics
Objectives
The students will be able to:
 Define and describe the different types of plate boundaries
 Understand the key names in developing the theory on plate tectonics
 Draw the movement between plates at boundaries
 Understand that these movements result in earthquakes, mountains, etc.
Academic
language
Plate tectonics:
Convergent Boundary: when 2 tectonic plates are moving toward one another and
colliding.
Divergent Boundary: When 2 tectonic plates are moving apart
Transform Boundary: when 2 tectonic plates are sliding/grinding past one another
Alfred Wegener: developed the theory of plate tectonics
Reading and comprehension
Lecture/notes
Worksheet activity (includes thinking outside the box for examples of the different
boundaries
Plate tectonics worksheet and reading material
Instructional
strategies
Materials
needed
Engagement/Introduction/Hook: Teacher claps and slides hands past each other
dramatically
Instructional sequence:
Segment 1: Read warm-up reading on plate tectonics/plate boundaries
Transition 1: “let’s discuss what we just read” (get out notes)
Instructional
outline
Segment 2: Discussion/Notes about the different types of boundaries, using
hands to demonstrate the movement of the plates
Transition 3: pass out the worksheets on boundaries/the reading
Segment 3: Complete the comprehension worksheet activity
Draft Fall 2013
Kira Schall Lesson Plan
Secondary Education
Modifications
Assessments of
learning
Closure: turn in worksheet; share examples students came up with to help remember
the boundaries!
for the class with many students on IEPs: maybe read through the paper together
after giving them time to read through on their own
Formative assessments:
 Collect the comprehension worksheet
 Students lead discussion/notes, so Teacher can assess what they gleaned
from the reading
Summative assessments:
 End of the unit examination
Analyzing
teaching
Resources:
http://www.livescience.com/37706-what-is-plate-tectonics.html
Draft Fall 2013
Kira Schall Lesson Plan
Secondary Education
What are Plate Tectonics?
Developed from the 1950s through the 1970s, plate tectonics is the modern version of
continental drift, a theory first proposed by scientist Alfred Wegener in 1912. Wegener
didn't have an explanation for how continents could move around the planet, but
researchers do now. The driving force behind plate tectonics is a combination of
pushing from mid-ocean ridges (gaps between tectonic plates where new ocean crust
forms) and pulling at subduction zones, researchers think. Scientists continue to study
and debate the mechanisms that move the plates.
Plate boundaries:
As the plates move, there are 3 main types of plate boundaries: convergent, divergent,
and transform. At a convergent boundary, two plates are moving toward one another
and colliding. If the two plates are of equal density, they usually push up against each
other, forming a mountain chain. If they are of unequal density, one plate usually sinks
beneath the other back into the mantle in a subduction zone. The cold, sinking plate
pulls the crust behind it downward. The western coast of South America and the
Himalayan Mountains are convergent plate boundaries. Many spectacular volcanoes
and earthquakes are also found along convergent boundaries, or subduction zones,
such as the "Ring of Fire" that surrounds the Pacific Ocean.
At a divergent boundary, two plates are spreading apart, as at seafloor-spreading
ridges or continental rift zones such as the East Africa Rift.
Transform boundaries mark slip-sliding plates, such as California's San Andreas
Fault, where the North America and Pacific plates grind past each other with a mostly
horizontal motion.
Reconstructing the past:
Thanks to plate tectonics, with clues left behind in rocks and fossils, geoscientists can
reconstruct the past history of Earth's continents. Most researchers think plate tectonics
began about 3 billion years ago, based on ancient magmas and minerals preserved in
rocks from that period. As the continents jostle around the Earth, they occasionally
come together to form giant supercontinents, a single landmass. One of the earliest big
supercontinents, called Rodinia, assembled about 1 billion years ago. Its breakup is
linked to a global glaciation called Snowball Earth. A more recent supercontinent called
Pangaea formed about 300 million years ago. Africa, South America, North America
and Europe nestled closely together, leaving a characteristic pattern of fossils and rocks
for geologists to decipher once Pangaea broke apart. The puzzle pieces left behind by
Pangaea, from fossils to the matching shorelines along the Atlantic Ocean, provided the
first hints that the Earth's continents move.
Draft Fall 2013
Kira Schall Lesson Plan
Secondary Education
What are Plate Tectonics? Worksheet
Name___________________
Period #_______
Date____________________
Complete the following Table.
Plate Boundary
1. Convergent
Sketch
Definition
Real world Example
2. Divergent
3. Transform
4. What recent supercontinent broke apart into the continents we know today?
__________________________
5. Plate tectonics explain the theory of _______ ________, proposed by scientist
_____________________.
6. Geoscientists use clues in _________ and __________ to learn about the past history of
earth's continents.
7. (circle one) A subduction zone occurs when the two plates are of EQUAL/UNEQUAL
density.
Draft Fall 2013