Plate Tectonic Boundaries
Omni-Globe Lesson Plan
Grade / Class / Subject: Middle School 5th – 7th grade
Lesson Time: (4) ~60 minutes times
Unit / Theme:
2010 Colorado State Standards:
1. 5th grade Earth Systems Science Standard 2
2. 6th grade Earth Systems Science Standard 1
3. 7th grade Earth Systems Science Standard 1
Essential Question:
What are the effects of plate movement along plate boundaries?
Content Objective(s):
1. The students will be able to identify the relationship between the location of
earthquakes and volcanoes to that of plate boundaries
2. The students will be able to examine the types of tectonic plate boundaries and their
movements relative to one another
3. The students will be able to identify the two types of crusts (Continental and Oceanic)
4. The students will be able to establish a connection between plate movement and
geologic events (earthquakes, volcanoes, mid-ocean ridges, and mountain formation)
5. Students will be able to observe how the world crust has changed in the last 600
million years and will be able to infer how it might change in the future
6. The students will be able to prepare a diagram of the world which will include: plate
boundaries and their motions, locations of volcanoes, earthquakes, hot spots, and
other geographic features related to plate movement.
Language Objective(s):
1. The students will be able
2. The students will be able
Key Vocabulary:
 Plate Tectonics Theory
 Tectonic Plates
 Continental Crust
 Oceanic Crust
 Pangaea
 Earthquake
 Volcano
 Hot Spot
 Topography
 Divergent Boundary
 Convergent Boundary
 Transform Boundary



Subduction
Mid Ocean Ridge
Faults
Critical Thinking Strategies:
 Background Knowledge (Schema)
 Synthesizing
 Inferring – Main Focus
Resources:
 Omni Globe
 World map Worksheet
 Earthquake and Volcano location plotting worksheet
Extensions / Variations:

Lesson Delivery:
1. Day 1 (Classroom)
a. Using the USGS website, the teacher will demonstrate earthquake occurrences for one
day, one month, one year, and a student’s lifetime.
b. Using the one year projection, a student will outline the earthquakes on a white board
c. The projection will then be turned off at which point the class will be able to answer
the question: What patterns can you notice?
d. This will work as a springboard for the homework worksheet
e. The teacher will then model how to plot the volcanoes and the earthquakes on the
worksheet using two different colors
2. Day 2 (OmniGlobe)
a. Omni Globe (Purpose, etiquette, and safety)
b. Students will be sitting on chairs behind tables that surround the omniglobe
c. The lesson will begin by the use of image “Earth With Clouds” where the students will
be exposed to an image of the Earth’s surface
i. What observations can you make about the Earth’s?
ii. Change to the image “Earth without clouds”
iii. Now what differences do you notice?
d. Change to the image “Earth Topography”
i. What features of Earth can you observe?
ii. What do you notice about the Ocean floor?
iii. In what continent can you see mountains, valleys, deserts?
e. Pass out the lesson worksheet
i. Have the students observe the similarities between their 2 dimensional map
with the 3 dimensional projection on the Omniglobe
f. Change the image to “Earthquakes 1 Week”
i. Ask students to use their orange color pencil to plot 5 earthquakes on their
map from different location in the world
g. Change the image to “Earthquakes 15 Years” and pause the rotation for 1 minute
i. Have the students plot as many earthquakes with a dot as they can by looking
at their section of the world using the orange color
h. Un-pause the image and allow it to rotate 90º ~ 25 seconds then re-pause
i. Now the students will be looking at a different part of the world, repeat the
previous step.
i. Repeat the last step two more times so that every student has had the opportunity to
plot earthquakes from all areas of the world
j. Change the image to “World Volcanoes” and repeat the last three steps but have them
mark the volcanoes with a triangle
k. At this point all of the students will have a map with earthquakes and volcanoes from
around the world plotted in their worksheet
l. Have the students take out their homework assignment from yesterday and have them
compare their plotting
i. Homework for tonight will be for the students to answer the 6 Analysis
questions in the “Omniglobe Plotting Homework”.
3. Day 3 (Classroom)
a. Warm up: Go over the worksheet and analysis questions from the homework
b. Ask the questions:
i. Why are all the earthquakes and volcanoes occurring in certain places in the
world and not scattered throughout the earth’s crust?
ii. Where do you see a greater concentration of both on your map?
iii. Where are locations where earthquakes occur but not volcanoes and vice
versa?
c. Begin instruction on plate boundaries:
i. Varies by instructor and it includes but is not limited to the vocabulary words:
Convergent, divergent, transform, continental, oceanic, subduction, mid-ocean
ridge, hot spots, faults,
d. Conclude the lesson by asking the students to point out in which boundary is crust
being formed (Construction) and broken down (Destruction)
e. Utilize various materials to create a simple model that demonstrates how natural
processes affect Earth’s structures
4. Day 4 (Omniglobe)
a.
Begin by projecting the image of the of Earthquakes over the 15 years
i. Now lead the class by asking:
1. Know that you understand the different boundaries, what do the
different colors on the map represent?
b. Change the image to the Age of Seafloor:
i. Discuss how this supports Hess’s theory and the type of boundary found in the
middle of most oceans
ii. Infer what will happen to the oceans in the future?
iii. What will happen to the continents that are found in opposite ends of an ocean
(Africa and South America)?
c. Change to the slide that include the arrows of plate movement
i. Know analyze the movement of the plates
ii. Have the students draw the plate boundaries on their map including the
movement arrows
iii. Reinforce that the movement of the plates determine what type of boundary is
formed
iv. Point to the Indian/Eurasian plate boundary
1. Ask the students: What earth feature is found here?
2. How is it formed?
3. Knowing what you know about mountain building, have the students
draw 3 squares (In Purple) where they think mountains are currently
being formed.
4. Have them check their answers with a topographical map (Atlas)
v. Point to the Pacific plate
1. Ask the students why we can find volcanoes in the middle of the pacific
plate?
2. How are these volcanoes formed?
3. Have them draw a circle (in yellow) on 3 places in the world where
other such volcanoes are formed (Yellowstone, Galapagos, Iceland)
d. Culminate the lesson b asking the students:
1. Based on the fact that plates are always moving, what does this teach us
about the past, the present, and the future of the Earth crust and its
landforms?
e. Finish the lesson by showing the animation of 300 or 600 MYA Pangaea – Based on
how much time you have left