Summary
| Subject keyword(s) | Assessment of students, Biogeochemical cycling, Classroom management, Earth and space science, Earth processes, Earthquakes, Geoscience, Geospatial, Inquiry learning, Physical, Plate tectonics, Teaching strategies, Teaching with GIS , Teaching with Technology , Interactive Lectures, Lecture, Tectonics, Volcanism |
|---|---|
| Grade level | Elementary School, Middle School, Higher Education, Vocational/Professional Development Education |
| Intended audience | Educator |
| Resource type | Dataset, Instructional Material |
| Resource format | text, text/html |
Found in collection(s)
Click on the logo to get more information about the collection.
Content contained within the resource
| Starting Point-Teaching Entry Level Geoscience > Interactive Lectures > Longer Activity Examples > Mapping Plate Boundaries Explore Teaching Examples | Provide Feedback Mapping Plate Boundaries Rurik Johnson (Plymouth Middle School) This material is replicated on a number of sitesas part of the SERC Pedagogic Service Project Summary This exercise is intended to have the students discover plate boundaries based on the uneven geographic occurrence of geologic hazards. After discussing geologic hazards, have the students plot dfferent sets of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions on maps. If you have a large class, don't use whole-world maps, use hemispheric ones so one half of the groups can do eastern hemisphere and the other western hemisphere. It takes about ten or fifteen minutes in the middle of lecture. When they hand back the overheads, and you stack them up (one hemisphere at a time) and set them on the projector. The lecture can then move from geologic hazards to plate tectonics. The important thing is for the students to discover the plates rather than to be shown them. Learning Goals This lesson enables students to: Deal with maps and numbers in a way that should be manageable for students with serious math and science anxiety Demonstrate their prior knowledge about plate tectonics Make or reinforce the connection between modern geologic hazard distribution and plate tectonics Cooperatively transform real data into a graphic which makes clear one of the biggest ideas in geology Context for Use The lecture described below should take about an hour and is intended for an introductory geology class. Teaching Materials For this exercise, the instructor will need: Overhead projector World or hemisphere maps on overheads - 1 per student pair Overhead markers - 1 per student pair Give one color to students working with volcano data, another to students working with earthquake data Latitude and longitude data for earthquakes and volcanic eruptions - 1 list of about 10-20 points per student pair Lecture briefly on geologic hazards: earthquakes and volcanoes, and show overheads of recent news articles. Ask the class if some areas are more susceptible to earthquakes or volcanoes than others. After a think-pair-share (TPS) session of a minute, they'll probably remark that Japan and California seem to have a lot of earthquakes, there are volcanoes in Italy, Hawaii, etc. So, time for another TPS session: why are those areas so geologically hazardous. The responses here will give you an idea of the students' prior knowledge about plate tectonics and boundary types. Give each student pair a copy of a map printed on a transparency, an overhead marker, and a list of data. For a small class, give students a map of the whle world and each pair should have a different set of data. For a large class, divide the class into east and west and give half Eastern Hemisphere maps and half Western Hemisphere maps. Make two copies of each data table and give a different subset to each pair within a hemisphere, with a warning only to plot data points in their hemisphere. Give the students 10-15 minutes to plot their data, then collect the overheads. Stack up all overheads of a given map (world, Eastern hemisphere, or Western hemisphere) and tell the students about the names of the plates, hotspots, and different types of boundaries. Teaching Notes and Tips A lot of volcanic/earthquake data web sites insist on showing the user the data on a map, which somewhat ruins the discovery effect of the lesson, so you probably want to print out data for the students rather than project it onto a screen. Some students may need to be reminded how to deal with latitude and longitude data on a map. Assessment Informal References and Resources Volcano and Earthquake data: Last 8 to 30 Days of Earthquake Activity from the QED (more info) has a huge table of data that can be cut into pieces, and handed out to different pairs. They'll be making the map, so you'll want to get rid of that. Alternatively, you can extract data by various criteria including damage done and number of deaths from NGDC's Significant Earthquake Database ( This site may be offline. ) Volcano World (more info) lists Current Eruptions (more info) and provides other useful information.. Blank world maps from Education Place: Whole Earth (more info) Western Hemisphere Eastern Hemisphere (more info) - instructor should add lat. and long. Once the plate boundaries are discovered by your students, there are many wonderful things for them to learn about plate tectonics. The USGS also has a Weekly Volcanic Activity Report (more info) newsletter to help you with the first part of the lecture. The maps can be used in the second half. There is also a map page for Earthquakes (more info) but no corresponding text page. A different Discovering Plate Boundaries (more info) exercise with downloadable maps showing seafloor ages, topography, seismology, volcanology, or plate boundaries. There are many ways to go about reconstructing Pangaea: Discover Our Earth ( This site may be offline. ) has one for computer projection, for an instructor demonstration or homework for a student with Internet access A paper approach to Reconstructing Pangea from Earth Science Today (more info) , more suited to student activity in lab Compare Earth's volcano distribution to Volcanoes of other worlds ( This site may be offline. ) . What do we know about plate tectonics on Venus, Mars, our moon, or Io? SubjectEnvironmental Science:Natural Hazards:Earthquakes, Geoscience:Geology:Tectonics, Geography:Physical, Geospatial, Environmental Science:Ecosystems:Biogeochemical cycling, Environmental Science:Natural Hazards:Volcanism Resource TypeDatasets and Tools:Datasets with Teaching Activities, Activities:Classroom Activity Special InterestData, models, or simulations, Hazards Grade LevelCollege Lower (13-14):Introductory Level Ready for UseReady to Use Earth System TopicsSolid Earth:Plate Tectonics, Volcanoes, Earthquakes, Human Dimensions:Natural Hazards, Biosphere:Ecology, Geography TopicsSolid Earth, Earth surface, Energy/Material cycles See more Longer Activity Examples » Starting Point-Teaching Entry Level Geoscience Assessment Campus-Based Learning ConcepTests Conceptual Models Cooperative Learning Earth History Approach Experience-Based Environmental Projects Field Labs First Day of Class Gallery Walks Games Indoor Labs ...click to see 11 more... Interactive Lecture Demonstrations Interactive Lectures What is Interactive Lecture? Why use Interactive Lectures? How to Give Interactive Lectures Examples of Interactive Lecture Techniques References and Additional Resources Investigative Case Based Learning Jigsaws Just in Time Teaching Mathematical and Statistical Models Models Peer Review Role Playing Service Learning Socratic Questioning Spreadsheets Across the Curriculum Studio Teaching in the Geosciences Teaching Urban Students Teaching with Data Teaching with GIS Teaching with Google Earth Teaching with Visualizations Undergraduate Research Using an Earth System Approach About Starting Point | Last Modified: January 30, 2012 | Printing | Shortcut: http://serc.carleton.edu/3000 | Privacy | Terms of Use | Report a Problem/Feedback