Download TEKS Based Lesson Plan

TEKS Based Lesson Plan
Subject: 8th Grade Science
Weeks: 3rd Nine Weeks Group 3
Unit of Study: Plate Tectonics
Essential Questions:
1. What are tectonic plates?
2. How do mountains form?
3. How can topographic maps and satellite views help us to make predictions about Earth?
TEKS/Essence Statements:
8.9) Earth and space. The student knows that natural events can impact Earth systems. The student is
expected to:
(A) Describe the historical development of evidence that supports plate tectonic theory.
(B) Relate plate tectonics to the formation of crustal features.
(C) Interpret topographic maps and satellite views to identify land and erosional features and
predict how these features may be reshaped by weathering.
Critical Skills/Postsecondary Goals:
This section needs to be completed based on the students in your class.
Instruction/Classroom Activities:
Small Group Instruction:
• Brainstorm: How do mountains form? What are tectonic plates? What are effects of tectonic plate
motion?
• Vocabulary: Using the PowerPoint entitled, Learning About Plate Boundaries, review the terms
associated with tectonic plate movement.
• Tectonic Plates Video: Watch the 4 minute video attached and discuss vocabulary terms.
• Identifying Tectonic Plates: Using the attached student pages and Tectonic Plate Map, students
will identify the plates based on the descriptions.
• The Effects of Moving Plates: In this lab, students will use a small Milky Way candy bar to
simulate the motion that occurs at the plate boundaries.
1. Carefully unwrap and take out your Milky Way.
2. Gently push your finger into the surface of your candy bar. Make sure you crack the
chocolate layer.
3. Look down on the candy bar and draw what you observe in the box below. These cracks
represent the Earth’s plates.
4. Gently pull your Milky Way apart. Notice how the “plates” move on the caramel layer.
5. Now push the two pieces together and try to build your own little mountain range
6. You should see uplift in your candy bar.
7. Look at the candy bar from the side and draw what you made in the box below.
•
Shape It Up Lab: Follow the attached student and supplement with the game found at this link:
http://sciencenetlinks.com/interactives/shapeitup.html
1. Divide students into groups of two partners.
2. Have every group fill a pie pan with 1 inch of water.
3. Pass out a Styrofoam® cup to each child.
North East Independent School District
TEKS Based Lesson Plan
4. Have each student tear the cup into about 12 pieces to represent the major tectonic plates
underlying the earth’s surface, and float them on the water, in turns. They have just
modeled the lithosphere—the place deep below the surface of the earth where the tectonic
plates are located. In the real lithosphere, the tectonic plates are floating on magma. Here
they are floating on water.
5. Students should gently experiment with their Styrofoam® tectonic plates. First, they
should pull them apart. Ask them, “What do you see in the space where the Styrofoam®
pieces once touched?” (Water. In real life, this is magma.) What might it create?
6. Now, students should gently bump two plates together. Ask them, “What might happen on
the surface from a bump like this below? Could it push magma into a mountain range?
Cause an earthquake?” (Yes.)
7. Now, students should push one plate under the other (water squirts a bit). Tell students,
“Remember, water is magma in our model. So what might you get here on earth from
magma shooting up—a volcano?”
8. Now model the Haiti earthquake that struck in January 2010. It was caused by the motions
of two plates grinding past each other in opposite directions. In the case of Haiti, the
Caribbean plate moved east past the North American plate. It’s called a strike-slip fault.
9. Ask students to experiment for five minutes in different ways with all 12 plates. Ask them
to think of what would happen on the surface.
10. Now, ask students to turn to the nearest person who isn’t their partner and show him/her
one plate interaction. The partners should interpret it—that is tell what happens on the
surface when tectonic plates behave the way you have shown them. Then students should
trade places.
Stations/Centers:
• Build Your Own Volcano & Set Off an Earthquake: Using the following link:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/forcesofnature/interactive/index.html?section=v, students will
create various types of volcanoes. Students will also test different building structures in varying
magnitude earthquakes to test their stability.
• Plate Boundary Flipbook: Students will use the attached student page and the following link:
http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/dynamic/understanding.html to complete their flip books. They will
describe and draw each plate boundary: divergent, convergent, and transform.
• Map Maker: Students will create their own maps using the following link:
http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/mapping/outline-map/.
Individualized Communication Planning: This section needs to be completed based on the
individualized communication needs of the students in your class.
Differentiated Tasks:
Level 3
Level 2
Level 1
For the Effects of Moving
For the Effects of Moving Plates For the Effects of Moving Plates
Plates and Shape It Up labs,
and Shape It Up labs, students
and Shape It Up labs, students
students will model the motion
will model the motion of
will model the motion of
of tectonic plates and make
tectonic plates and make
tectonic plates.
connection to formation of
connection to formation of
mountains, earthquakes, and
mountains, earthquakes, and
volcanoes. Discuss the effects
volcanoes.
of these events on the people
and vegetation in a given area,
such as Haiti.
North East Independent School District
TEKS Based Lesson Plan
Materials/Resources:
Identifying Tectonic Plates: Tectonic Plate Map
The Effects of Moving Plates: Milky Way small candy bars, paper plates, napkins
Shape It Up Lab: pie pan, water, Styrofoam® cups
Assessment Strategies: This section needs to be completed based on the strategies appropriate for the
students in your class.
IEP Connections: This section needs to be completed based on the IEPs documented in the students’
ARDs in your class.
North East Independent School District