Hello everyone, I am a current masters student at Drexel university and I am looking for a little help in how to plan out a unit on Plate tectonics? what are some hands-on activities that would be helpful? what are some sub categories that might help making this vast subject easier to handle? any and all comments welcome thanks
I do not know the age of your students but a way it can be taught would involve a tennis ball and some paper plates and scissors and glue and a small circular world map and some coloured pencils if so inclined to add colour. Use the Tennis ball to show how the earth, like the ball, is put together in pieces. Have students cut out and glue the circular world map to the paper plate. Have students cut the world map in places of their choosing (only 6 pieces at the most, do not want this getting too small or out of hand). Have students then glue the paper plates to construction paper so that it forms a kind of jig-saw puzzle of the planet earth; i.e. a concrete representation of our Earth being made of many pieces.
You should do an activity with graham crackers and cake frosting on a plate. If you wet one graham cracker it will help with convergent boundaries and its a fun way to help them learn the types of boundaries and what forms occur at teach.
I have seen this done in a class before and the kids loved it! The activity really gets their attention and also shows them a visual of how plates move within the Earth!
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