Plate
Tectonics
Objective: Students will analyze the theory of Plate Tectonics using scientific evidence.
Student Objectives:
1. Provide the students with a model of the modern continents.
2. Have the students cut out each continent and ask for observations about the size and shape of each.
3. Give the students information on what plates are and how they move.
4. Provide the students with a set of plate/continent pieces and have them try to assemble what scientists believe was once a supercontinent.
5. After they have assembled the supercontinent/Pangaea discuss what possible consequences could have resulted from all the land once being joined.
6. Have the students theorize what forces could have made the continents or plates drift apart.
7. Explain to the students the theory of plate tectonics.
8. Have the students explore the hypothesis of Alfred Wegener.