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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

the biggest Plates on Earth

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Students understand the movement of tectonic plates. In this tectonic plates activity, students access prior knowledge of convergent, divergent, and transform boundaries.  Students discuss energy transfer involved in plate...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Convection in a Pan

For Teachers 6th - 7th
Learners explore convection. In this lesson on heat and energy, students investigate how heat moves in convection currents. They use their finding to better understand how convection currents effect the movement of tectonic plates.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Continents Adrift

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students examine how tectonic plates change the Earth's land. In this geology lesson, students are divided into small groups to construct a continent puzzle. Students use transparency pieces to demonstrate how Africa and South America...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Islands, Reefs, and a Hotspot

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Students describe eight stages in the formation of islands in the Hawaiian archipelago. They examine the movement of tectonic plates in the Hawaiian archipelago region, and describe how plate movement produced the Hawaiian archipelago.
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Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Analyzing Plate Motion Using Earth Scope Gps Data

For Teachers 9th - 10th
In this chapter, you will access Global Positioning System (GPS) data from the Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO) and analyze the data in a spreadsheet to measure the motion of GPS stations in the Pacific Northwest. From your analyses, you...
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Unit Plan
Vision Learning

Visionlearning: Earth Science: The Rock Cycle: Uniformitarianism and Recycling

For Students 9th - 10th
Instructional module focusing on the rock cycle. Discussion includes the concept of uniformitarianism and how earth materials change from one form to another. The site also includes an interactive practice quiz and links relating to the...
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Lesson Plan
National Earth Science Teachers Association

Windows to the Universe: Snack Tectonics

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students create a model using food that simulates the layering and movement of tectonic plates. Overheads are provided that demonstrate different ways to position the graham crackers, frosting, and fruit roll-ups to emulate how the...
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Website
PBS

Wnet: Thirteen: Savage Earth: Tsunamis

For Students 9th - 10th
Excellent site exploring the mysterious and destructive tsunamis. Explore this scientific marvel and learn about the causes and dangers.
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PPT
NASA

Nasa: Slr and Gps (And Plate Tectonics and Earthquakes) [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th
This slideshow explains how satellites are used to measure the movement of tectonic plates.
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Graphic
PBS

Wnet: Thirteen: Savage Earth: Waves of Destruction, a Tsunami Animation

For Students 3rd - 8th
View a brief animation that explains the science behind a tsunami.
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Handout
Science Struck

Science Struck: Theory of Plate Tectonics

For Students 9th - 10th
A detailed discussion of plate tectonics. Looks at continental drift, types of tectonic plates and plate boundaries, and primary and secondary tectonic plates.
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Lesson Plan
Other

Usra: Lunar and Planetary Institute: Hot Spot Activity [Pdf]

For Teachers 9th - 10th
In this lesson, students will measure the distances between Hawaiian islands, and convert and graph their data to determine the speed of the Pacific Plate.
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Handout
Science Struck

Science Struck: Earthquakes and Volcanic Eruptions

For Students 9th - 10th
Explains what earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are and how they are related.
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Handout
Science Struck

Science Struck: Underwater Volcano Facts

For Students 4th - 8th
Provides information about underwater volcanoes.