TECTONIC PLATES PUZZLE. Teacher s Guide

Transcription

1 TECTONIC S PUZZLE Teacher s Guide Here s a great way for kids to start to make connections about the big ideas behind continental drift and plate tectonics! Each student will cut out the seventeen major plates as puzzle pieces. Then students will assemble all the plates into a map of the present day earth. Here s how to do it: 1. Print out the.pdf of the lesson. Under Page Scaling, choose None. It looks good on laser or inkjet printers, so take your pick! 2. Photocopy the page with the jumbled up tectonic plates for each student. 3. Optional: Make one copy of the background page for each student. This is the page with the title Tectonic Plates, the empty rectangle, and the legend. 4. Pass out those copies as well as a pair of scissors and glue (glue sticks are good for this) to each student. 5. Tell the students that they will be cutting out all seventeen plates as carefully as possible. If they don t cut carefully, the pieces may not fit together correctly! 6. Allow students about 1 2 hours to cut out and glue down the pieces. Management hints: The pieces will fit nicely into a business sized envelope for storage if the students need more than one sitting to finish their map. The Antarctica Plate must be folded in half to fit in most envelopes. Some students like to color their continents. It is best to do this before cutting out and gluing the pieces together. If students color before cutting, the teacher might remind them that there are two pieces called Eurasian Plate. The continent portion of each of these plates should probably be the same color. There are three options for a background on which to glue the pieces: 1. Provide a plain piece of paper to use as a background. This works fine for most students. 2. Provide the Tectonic Plates page with the big empty rectangle on it. This includes the legend and provides the puzzle s edges for students. The students maps will look more uniform if the teacher provides a background. 3. Provide the Tectonic Plates page with the rectangle and plate outlines on it. This makes the puzzle much easier. This is a good options for kids who have issues with puzzles, who struggle to cut accurately, or who are working very slowly. The worksheet that accompanies the puzzle can be photocopied on the back side of the paper that the students will use as a background so that students can complete the puzzle and the worksheet as one assignment. A picture showing the arrangement of the plates when finished has been provided for you. Most kids don t need to see a picture to finish the puzzle, but it could be helpful for kids who are struggling with the assignment. Contents of packet Page 1 Teacher s Guide Page 2 Worksheet Page 3 Worksheet answer key Page 4 Tectonic Plates Puzzle Pieces Page 5 Model of finished product Page 6 Simple Background (no outlines of plates) Page 7 Modified Background (with outlines of plates) Page 8 Answer key (labeled map) for extra problems from worksheet Pages 9 18 Pages of extra pieces (in case students lose just one or two pieces)

2 Name: TECTONIC S PUZZLE Looking at the map, what do you see that could have led observers such as Alfred Wegener to hypothesize that the continents have moved? Look for the small arrows found throughout the map. The arrows show that tectonic plates are not moving. in motion. completely covered by water. Do you see any tectonic plates that are almost entirely covered by water? These are oceanic plates. There are several oceanic plates. List two of Earth s oceanic plates. List three pairs of plates that are moving apart from one another. These are called divergent boundaries. List two places where you can find subduction zones. They are marked by a line that looks like this: What observations can you make about where subduction zones are found? What relationship do you observe between the location of volcanoes and the tectonic plates? Extra! Use a map that shows geologic features to find and label the following: RING OF FIRE ALEUTIAN TRENCH PERU CHILE TRENCH MID ATLANTIC RIDGE HAWAIIAN HOT SPOT JAVA TRENCH MARIANAS TRENCH SAN ANDREAS FAULT JAPAN TRENCH 2

3 ANSWER KEY TECTONIC S PUZZLE Looking at the map, what do you see that could have led observers such as Alfred Wegener to hypothesize that the continents have moved? Simple Answer: Some of the continents look like they could fit together. Additional Information: The most obvious are South America and Africa. Wegener had other evidence as well including fossils, rock formations, and coal deposits, but they are not shown on this puzzle. Look for the small arrows found throughout the map. The arrows show that tectonic plates are not moving. _x_ in motion. completely covered by water. Do you see any tectonic plates that are almost entirely covered by water? These are oceanic plates. There are several oceanic plates. List two of Earth s oceanic plates. The Pacific Plate, the Phillipines Plate, the Cocos Plate, the Caribbean Plate, the Scotia Plate, and the Nazca Plate are all mostly covered by water. There are others that are covered by a lot of water as well such as the Australian Plate. List three pairs of plates that are moving apart from one another. These are called divergent boundaries. Pacific Plate and Antarctic Plate Pacific Plate and Nazca Plate Eurasian Plate and North American Plate African Plate and South American Plate African Plate and Antarctic Plate Australian Plate and Antarctic Plate Pacific Plate and North American Plate (actually a transform boundary) List two places where you can find subduction zones. They are marked by a line that looks like this: Edge of South American Plate Edge of Juan de Fuca Plate Edge of Cocos Plate Around Pacific Plate All around the Phillipines Plate Edge of the Eurasian Plate What observations can you make about where subduction zones are found? Simple Answer: Subduction zones are found around the edges of some plates. Additional observations: They are found along convergent boundaries, or places where continents collide. Specifically, they are often found where oceanic plates collide with continents. They are also found in close proximity to many volcanoes. What relationship do you observe between the location of volcanoes and the tectonic plates? Simple Answer: Volcanoes are often found at the edges of tectonic plates. Additional Information: Volcanoes are often found along subduction zones, areas where oceanic plates collide with continents. Some volcanoes can also be found at divergent boundaries, such as along the Mid Atlanic Ridge. Volcanoes can also sometimes be found in the middle of tectonic plates, away from the edges. These are called hot spot volcanoes. Extra! Use a map that shows geologic features to find and label the following: RING OF FIRE ALEUTIAN TRENCH PERU CHILE TRENCH MID ATLANTIC RIDGE HAWAIIAN HOT SPOT JAVA TRENCH MARIANAS TRENCH SAN ANDREAS FAULT JAPAN TRENCH 3

4 There are 17 plates on this page separated by diagonal shading in the background. Cut out the plates, and keep them. Get rid of the diagonal shading in the background. NORTH ANTARCTICA AFRICAN SOUTH PACIFIC = Juan de Fuca SCOTIA

5 NORTH SCOTIA PACIFIC ANARCTICA SOUTH AFRICAN 5

6 TECTONIC S Edge of plate Edge of continent Direction of plate movement Subduction zone Volcano 7

7 TECTONIC S Edge of plate Edge of continent Direction of plate movement Subduction zone Volcano 6

8 ALEUTIAN TRENCH NORTH SCOTIA PACIFIC SOUTH ANARCTICA AFRICAN MID ATLANTIC RIDGE RING OF FIRE JAPAN TRENCH SAN ANDREAS FAULT HAWAIIAN HOT SPOT JAVA TRENCH MARIANAS TRENCH PERU CHILE TRENCH 8

9 SOUTH SOUTH SOUTH Extra Australian Plates Extra South American Plates SOUTH SOUTH SOUTH

10 Extra African Plates Extra North American Plates NORTH NORTH NORTH AFRICAN AFRICAN

11 Extra Arabian Plates Extra Phillipine Plates

12 Extra Caribbean Plates Extra Scotia Plates Extra Cocos Plates SCOTIA SCOTIA SCOTIA SCOTIA SCOTIA SCOTIA SCOTIA SCOTIA SCOTIA SCOTIA SCOTIA SCOTIA SCOTIA SCOTIA SCOTIA SCOTIA SCOTIA SCOTIA SCOTIA SCOTIA SCOTIA SCOTIA SCOTIA SCOTIA

13 Extra Juan de Fuca Plates Extra Nazca Plates Extra Indian Plates

14 Extra Eurasian Plates - Part One

15 PACIFIC PACIFIC PACIFIC PACIFIC PACIFIC Extra Pacific Plates

16 ANTARCTICA ANTARCTICA ANTARCTICA Extra Antarctica Plates

17 Extra Eurasian Plates - Part One

18 Thank you! Thank you for purchasing this product! I am a middle school science teacher, and I hope to provide you, my colleague, with high-quality products that you can easily use in your classroom. You can find me on Teachers Pay Teachers at: If you have any questions, comments, feedback, or requests, please don t hesitate to contact me at kellytinpg@gmail.com.