Brittany Wolgast

Plate Tectonics
Next Generation Science Standards
ESS2.B: Plate Tectonics and Large-Scale System Interactions
The locations of mountain ranges, deep ocean trenches, ocean floor structures, earthquakes,
and volcanoes occur in patterns. Most earthquakes and volcanoes occur in bands that are often
along the boundaries between continents and oceans. Major mountain chains form inside
continents or near their edges. Maps can help locate the different land and water features
areas of Earth. (4-ESS2-2)
[Lesson adapted for a 6th grade small group of students]

Day One
1. Compare how the world use to look to how it looks now
http://www.learner.org/interactives/dynamicearth/drift.html
- Try to incorporate the word PangaeaWhich one looks more like our earth now and what
does the other one look like?
- What is Pangaea? Has anyone heard of this word before? What have you heard about it?
- Why do you think the world looks like this now? Earth is physically changing all the time.
2. How is it changing? The ground beneath our feet is moving
- Why? Plate tectonics are consistently moving.
- Talk about the word plate tectonics. Discuss student ideas in their words.
- What do you know about plate tectonics? Plate tectonics are consistently moving
throughout the years and shaping new formations and creating natural hazards that cause
the physical appearance of our Earth to change.
3. What are examples of some of the formations that you think are formed from plate
tectonics? Natural hazards?
- Show this picture of main tectonics that scientists have come up with.
- Make it clear that there are 12 main plates that are scientists have come up with today.
- Ask students if they have any ideas on how plate tectonics move. (Collide, slide past each
other, go under/over, move apart)
- What do you think happens when these plate tectonics move? (natural hazards)
- Do you think they ever collide with one another? What would happen if they collided?
- Why do you think this happens?

4. Lead the students into the experiment by asking them how we can decide if their ideas about
what formations and natural hazards occur when plate tectonics move.
- Tell them the materials involved: water, Styrofoam cup, pie pan
- Any ideas what these materials could represent in order to test our ideas?
- If not, for time sake, explain that the pie pan is going to represent the earths lithosphere
which is the place deep below the Earths surface where the plate tectonics are at.
5. Explain the Styrofoam cup will represent that plate tectonicshow many pieces are we going
to need? (12 to represent the main plate tectonics we discussed earlier)
- The water is going to represent the magma because in the real lithosphere (pie pan) the
plate tectonics are floating on magma.
- How could we move the Styrofoam to create some of the movements that plate tectonics
encounter?
6. Ask students to predict what formations or hazards are going to be creating and occurring in
the pie pan?
http://sciencenetlinks.com/student-teacher-sheets/plate-tectonics-brush-bump-and-pullexperiment/
- Discuss what the students observed.
- How does this relate to the actual lithosphere and plate tectonics?

Day Two
1. Revisit the experiment we did last week.

a. What did you (the students) learn last week? What do you remember?
b. What did you observe during the experiment?
2. Now that we have talked about last weeks lesson, what do you think we will talk about

today?
a. Listen to what the students have to say
b. Based on what we learned last week, what do you think the plate tectonics move on?
c. Show them the picture of the different layers of the earth
d. What can you tell me about what you see?
3. Talk about boundaries

a. What have you heard about plate boundaries?

4. Introduce the OREO cookie experiment

a. Before showing the pictures of the different cookies, have the students break the top
layer of cookie and demonstrate the different shapes. Explain to them what they will be
doing (i.e. sliding the two parts back and forth, so on) and ask questions as they do it
b. Why do you think we are having you do this experiment? What is the purpose of this?
c. How are you being creative?
d. Tell the students here the different kinds of boundaries
e. Divergent Boundaries, the plates move away from each other, and the very top layer
of the crust (called the lithosphere) breaks apart, and the space that forms between
them sinks down into the second layer of the crust (called the asthenosphere) to form a
valley called a rift. Liquid rock called magma seeps up from inside the earth to fill cracks.
It hardens and becomes a new part of the Earths crust.
i. What kind of natural hazard do you believe happens here?
f. Convergent Boundaries, two tectonic plates come together, pushing against each
other. One plate is forced upwards, causing mountain ranges, including volcanoes, to
form. The other plate is forced downwards and its edge eventually sinks into the core
and melts.
i. What kind of natural hazards happen here?
g. Transform Boundaries, two plates slide against each other as they move past in
different directions. As they slide past each other, neither one is destroyed nor pushed
up or down.
i. What natural hazards happen here?
5. Discuss where earthquakes/volcanos/hazards often occur

a. Where do you think a lot of natural hazards happen?

6. Talk about the Ring of Fire

a. What have you heard or learned about the Ring of Fire?

a. Scientists have traveled all over the Earth and found evidence that supports the ideas of
plate tectonics. First, they looked at the continents. Ever notice how Africa and South
America look like they could fit together? Scientists did and we discussed this last
week! They cut up a map, moved the continents close together, and came up with a
huge landmass called Pangaea (one super-continent).
b. Scientists also looked at the fossils (long-dead animal bones and plants) on the different
continents. They found that fossils on Australia were similar to the ones in Southern
Asia. They think the same plants once lived on the continents, but when they split apart,
new plants developed. When they were digging, they also looked at the types of rocks.
The West Coast of Africa has very similar rock formations to those on the East Coast of
South America. They are too similar to be a coincidence
Second Day might just be spent reviewing rather than doing any other experiment. Might not be
enough time to teach any more content if we introduced another experiment.