Name: XXXXX

Period: XXXXX
Teacher: XXXXX

7th Grade Science Module 3

Email to your teacher when finished to receive credit.

Assignments:
1. Alfred Wegener Internet Inquiry
2. Alfred Wegener Reading and Questions
3. Gizmo: Building Pangaea

Gizmo Class Codes:

1st Period: 9KR7MH
2nd Period: GKN5FM
5th Period: MFMMKJ
6th Period: FNVCXR
7th Period: CRCQ25
8th Period: MZXZLZ
________________
Who is Alfred Wegener: Internet Inquiry

Directions: You will be using the computers to research the scientist Alfred
Wegner and responding to the questions found below regarding his discoveries and
contributions to Earth Science.

Essential Question: Who is Alfred Wegner and what has he contributed to our
scientific understanding of the Earth?

Lesson Objective: Students will demonstrate understanding of Alfred Wegner’s

contributions to scientific knowledge by conducting independent research to explain
accurate responses to teacher listed questions.

Begin this assignment by reading the questions that you are expected to respond to.
After you have read these questions and understand what information you are looking
for begin searching the internet by searching “Alfred Wegner” or using one of the
research links below:

Helpful Research Links:

Tectonic Plates and Alfred Wegener
http://www.tqnyc.org/NYC040622/tectonicplates.html
Alfred Wegener Biography
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/wegener.html
Color-Coded Continents
http://wrgis.wr.usgs.gov/docs/usgsnps/pltec/scplseqai.html
What on Earth Is Plate Tectonics?
http://wrgis.wr.usgs.gov/docs/usgsnps/pltec/pltec1.html
Understanding Plate Motions
http://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/understanding.html
Plate Tectonics
http://scign.jpl.nasa.gov/learn/plate.htm
On the Move
http://kids.earth.nasa.gov/archive/pangaea/
Discovering Plate Boundaries
http://www.geophysics.rice.edu/plateboundary/TGpart1_notes.pdf
This Dynamic Earth: The Story of Plate Tectonics
http://pubs.usgs.gov/publications/text/dynamic.html
________________

Questions: Read the questions below and explain your response using at least a
complete sentence. Some responses may require more than a sentence to explain.
***I will NOT accept assignments that are not neat/readable writing or that are not
written in sentence format. Please remember that a good strategy for responding to
a question is to restate the question within your response. In order to assist
you, the first two questions will have the beginning of the response began for you.

1. What pattern did Wegener notice on the map?

2. Who was Alfred Wegener?
3. What did Wegener theorize (explain the idea – not the name)
4. What did Wegner name his theory?
5. What kind of information/evidence did Wegner use to support his theory? (You
must name and explain at least three key pieces of information)
6. What was Pangaea?
7. What was Wegner unable to explain?
8. Why didn’t people accept his ideas?
9. What happened to Wegener?
10. Years after Wegner’s death, what did Harry Hess theorize?
11. What did Hess’s theory become known as? (name)
12. How are Wegner’s theory and Hess’s theory related?

________________

Alfred Wegener

Directions: Prior to reading the following article, number the paragraphs 1-10.
Additionally, skim through the reading and circle key terms that pertain to earth
science.

Alfred Wegener was a German Scientist that traveled the world on ships studying the
Earth. Although he was officially trained to study the weather, his curiosity and
keen observations led him to study many other subjects such as geography, fossils,
landforms, and rocks as well as later leading him to become an author.

In his studies, Wegener often used maps of the Earth. During these studies, Wegner
came across the ideas of earlier scientists who had noticed that the continents
were like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that could fit together. Most notably, if
Africa were pushed over to South America, the edges of the two continents would fit
together snuggly. Although many scientists had noticed this phenomenon, Wegener
was the first person to realize, that although the idea of moving continents seemed
ridiculous, the fossil record of plants and animals, glacier scarring, and coal
deposits that he had discovered in his years of study supported the idea that the
continents of the Earth were indeed once joined together!

One such piece of evidence that Wegener came across was from the remains of a small
dinosaur called Mesosaurus (MEZ-uh-sor-us). The Mesosaurus was a reptile that was
about the size of a dog and had long jaws and teeth. Fossil remains of Mesosaurus
were found in only two places, eastern South America and western Africa.
Mesosaurus was small; it would be incapable of swimming across the Atlantic Ocean.
How then, could its fossils appear in both Africa and South America?

Another piece of evidence that Wegener discovered came from his understanding of
climatology and weather. While searching for and recording data of fossils, some
peculiar evidence was found. Fossils of tropical plants and animals were found in
Alaska and Antarctica. How could fossils of plants and animals, which can only
survive in warm weather, be found at or near the frozen ice-covered poles of the
Earth? Additionally evidence of glacier scarring was found in South America,
Africa, India and Australia, all near the equator. How could a landmass near the
equator show evidence of once being covered by a glacier?

Lastly, geography played a crucial role in the formation of Wegener’s hypothesis.

Once Wegner pieced the continents together, he noticed that numerous other geologic
formations such as coal deposits and mountain ranges on various continents also
aligned. For example, the Appalachian mountain range running through the
northeastern United States aligned with mountains running through northwestern
Europe. Furthermore not only do these mountains align when the continents are
puzzled together, but also study has shown that these rocks are of the same age and
made-up of the same materials.

Wegner believed that all of these pieces of evidence together suggests that these
continents had once been joined together. When the landmasses split, the remains
of Mesosaurus were left on two different continents. Continents have moved over
time, explaining why tropical plant and animal fossils and remnants of glaciers
were found in geographic locations that were not conducive to their current day
temperature, and once conjoined mountain ranges had over time been pulled and split
apart.

From this combined evidence, in 1912 Wegner officially began sharing his hypothesis
of Continental Drift. This hypothesis stated that all the continents had once been
part of one large supercontinent 250 million years ago. Wegener called the huge
land mass Pangaea (PANG-gay-uh) meaning “all lands”. Wegner’s idea stated that the
landmass, Pangaea, had broken up hundreds of millions of years ago and its broken
pieces had then drifted apart, forming the continents as we now know them.

However, soon after Wegner began sharing his hypothesis, World War I broke out in
Europe. During the war, Wegner fought and was wounded. While recovering from his
wounds, he wrote a book that described his hypotheses and in 1915, The Origin of
Continents and Oceans was published. In his work, Wegener presented a large amount
of circumstantial evidence in support of continental drift, but he was unable to
come up with a convincing mechanism. Thus, while his ideas attracted a few early
supporters his ideas were generally met with skepticism, given that he was unable
to explain how entire continents would be able to move thousands of miles through
the oceans. Scientists around the world refused to believe Wegner's ideas and some
even made fun of them. Ultimately, most scientists felt that Wegner was not really
a trained geologist and should stick with what he was trained to do---studying the
weather.

Wegner continued his work anyway, determined to prove his ideas correct. He made
several research trips to the island of Greenland, and made many more discoveries
of evidence for continental drift. However, on a trip in 1930, the weather turned
bitterly cold, supplies ran out and Wegner did not survive.

After his death Wegner’s ideas became known as the theory of Continental Drift. At
the time Wegner stated his theory, scientists believed that the continents and
ocean floors were one continuous mass of solid rock. They couldn’t imagine how the
continents could move through the ocean floor. At his death Wegner still could not
explain the mechanisms for the movement of the continents; however he had been able
to gather evidence proving that Greenland was moving a tiny distance away from
Europe each year.

What You NEED TO KNOW Directions: The following is a list of questions that will
be assessed and that you must know the correct responses to. Find these answers in
the reading passage above and highlight this information. Do not write the answers
out!

1. What 4 pieces of information did Wegner discover when studying maps and other
information?

2. What did Wegner call the great landmass that he believed existed?

3. When did Wegner develop his hypothesis of moving continents and what did he call
it?

4. Why didn’t other scientists believe Wegner's ideas?

________________

Student Exploration: Building Pangaea

Directions: Follow the instructions to go through the simulation. Respond to the

questions and prompts in the orange boxes.

Vocabulary: continental drift, fossil, glacier, ice age, landmass, Pangaea,

supercontinent

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)

1. Antarctica is a frozen land, so cold and icy that no trees can grow there. Yet
scientists have discovered fossils (remains preserved in rock) of ancient trees in
Antarctica.

What do you think this means?

2. The Himalayas in central Asia are the tallest mountains in the world. But
fossils of seashells can be found high in these mountains, far from any ocean.

How do you think they got there?

Gizmo Warm-up
1. The Gizmo allows you to drag and rotate all the major landmasses on Earth.
* To drag a landmass, grab it in the middle.
* To rotate a landmass, grab it near the edge.
* Learn the names by opening the Tools menu and dragging the Help icon over the
landmasses.
* Mark where you live. Open the Tools menu and drag an arrow to your location.

2. Test your geography skills. Drag and rotate landmasses randomly until you make a
big mess. Then try to move them back to their original positions.

When you have made the best map you can, open the Tools menu, select Screen shot📷,
and paste the image below. Label the image “Map 1.”

3. Click Reset. Compare your map to the real one. How well did you do?

________________

Activity A:

Solving the puzzle

Get the Gizmo ready:
* If necessary, click Reset.
* Check that the Evidence shown is None.
Capture_1

Introduction: In 1915, a German scientist named Alfred Wegener (VAY-guh-ner)

proposed the theory of continental drift. According to this theory, the landmasses
once were joined into a supercontinent called Pangaea. The landmasses then slowly
drifted to their current positions.

Question: What did Pangaea look like?

1. Observe: Drag South America close to Africa. Look at their coastlines. What do
you notice?
2. Explore: Try to fit all the landmasses together like a puzzle.
* As much as possible, avoid overlapping landmasses.
* When you are satisfied, take a screenshot 📷 and paste it below. Label this map
“Map 2: Fit of the continents.”

3. Analyze: Look at your map of Pangaea.

1. How well do the continents fit together?

2. Is it a perfect fit? Explain.

3. Think about how the landmasses got from where they were to where they are
today. Does it seem realistic that the landmasses could have moved like this?
Explain.

4. Compare: If possible, present your map of Pangaea to your classmates and

teacher. Look at other maps, and talk about each one.

5. Are the maps very similar or very different?

4. If Alfred Wegener showed you a map like this but did not have any other
evidence, would you have believed his theory that the continents had moved?
Explain.

________________
Activity B:

Fossil and rock evidence

Get the Gizmo ready:
* Click Reset.
* Under Evidence choose Fossils.
MCj01557110000[1]

Question: What do fossils and rocks tell us about Pangaea?

1. Observe: The brown areas in the Gizmo show where fossils of Lystrosaurus have
been found. Lystrosaurus looked a bit like a dinosaur, but lived in a time before
dinosaurs.

1. On which landmasses did Lystrosaurus live?

2. Lystrosaurus probably couldn’t swim very far. How might the locations of
Lystrosaurus fossils be seen as evidence that the continents were once together?

2. Explore: Use the fossil evidence to help you make a new map of Pangaea. When the
map is done, paste a screenshot 📷 below. Label this map “Map 3: Fossil evidence.”

How well do the landmasses fit together this time?

3. Revise: Now under Evidence choose Rocks. The purple areas are mountains that
formed when landmasses collided 450 million years ago. The orange areas show rocks
that formed about 2 billion years ago.

Adjust your map using this evidence, and then paste a screenshot 📷 of this map
below. Label this map “Map 4: Rock evidence.”
📷

4. Compare: If possible, compare your map to those of your classmates.

A.
How similar are the maps?

B.
If Wegener showed you this evidence, would you have believed his theory?
Explain

5. Extend your thinking: Click Reset and watch India closely. The Himalayan
Mountains are found on the border of India and Eurasia. How do you think these
mountains were formed?

Activity C:

Ancient ice sheets

Get the Gizmo ready:
* Click Reset.
* Under Evidence choose Glaciers.
MCNA01832_0000[1]

Introduction: Glaciers are large, slow-moving sheets of ice. During ice ages,
glaciers formed at the North and South Poles and spread out to cover large areas.

Question: What does evidence of glaciers tell us about Pangaea?

1. Observe: The white areas are places that show evidence of a massive ice sheet
that existed around 250 million years ago.

3. Which landmasses show evidence of ancient glaciers?

 4. Would you expect to find large glaciers on all of these landmasses today?
Explain.

2. Explore: Drag the landmasses together to form a map of Pangaea. Try to line up
the white areas on each continent. You can use the fossil and rock evidence as well
if you like. Paste a screenshot 📷 of this map below, labeled “Map 5: Glacial
evidence.”

3. Analyze: Choose Glaciers (if necessary) and look at the white regions. Does this
pattern make more sense now? Explain.

4. Extend your thinking: As glaciers moved away from the poles, rocks stuck to the
bottom of the ice were dragged over the ground. This left scrapes and scratches on
rock outcrops that can still be seen today. The scratches show which direction the
glaciers moved.

1. Look at the arrows that show the direction of glacial scratches. What is the
pattern?

2. Which landmass do you think was located over the South Pole in the time of
Pangaea? Why? Discuss your answer with your teacher and classmates.