Download Dynamic Earth

Dynamic Earth
Students need to actively work with materials and engage in hands-on
experiences when studying the concept of plate tectonics.
Curriculum/State Standards
Washington State Essential Academic
Learning Requirements (EALRs) require
that students:
1.1 Use properties to identify, describe,
and categorize substances, materials,
and objects, and use characteristics to
categorize living things.
The No Child Left Behind initiative
mandates that “teachers must use only
research-based teaching methods.”
According to a study done by the
Department of Education’s National
Center for Education Statistics, “students
who did hands-on activities almost every
day...were more likely to be at or above
the proficient level.
Overview
The students will study the land features
formed by plate tectonics by constructing
models of four types of plate tectonicgenerated land features. As many
specific types of land features are
outside of a student’s geographic region,
characteristics of landforms can be seen
through hands-on models.
Objectives
The student will be able to identify four
types of land features caused by plate
tectonics.
The student will compare and contrast
characteristics of four types of land
features and the processes that led to the
formation of those land features.
The student will construct models of four
types of land features using a variety of
materials.
Materials
diverging plate volcano: 10 boxes of
graham crackers, 10 tubs of whipped
cream, 150 paper plates, 25 packs of
ready made graham cracker pie crusts (6
in a package), 5 jars chocolate syrup hot spot volcano: 10 tubs of frosting (5
brown, 5 red), 150 sugar cookies
rift valley: 150 caramel candy bars
folded mountains: 64 tubs of Play-Doh
(can substitute clay)
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GRADE LEVEL
Readiness Activity
Ask students to brainstorm ideas about
volcano formation. They may do this in
groups or in partners. Show pictures of
folded mountains and rift valleys and ask
students to draw how these features may
have formed.
Strategies/Activities
Explain to students that landforms are
a result of plate tectonics. Show an
overhead, projected picture or drawings
of the plates on our planet. Students
will be excited to learn that they will
use modeling to replicate the processes
that occur as a result of converging and
diverging plates.
Diverging Plate Volcano: Students
will construct a model of a volcano that
forms at a divergent (moving apart) plate
boundary. Students will use a graham
cracker to model the divergent plates.
Graham crackers are ideal in that they
are “scored” in the middle, making them
easy to break apart and model diverging
plates. Students will construct a volcano
by using a pre-made graham cracker
individual pie crust (represents earth’s
crust); whipped cream (represents the
magma chamber); and chocolate syrup
(represents the lava). Students should
fill their graham cracker pie crust with
THIS WINNING PROJECT IDEA SUBMITTED BY:
Kareen Borders
Key Peninsula Middle School
Lakebay, WA
6-8
1
WEEK
$316
TOTAL BUDGET
Dynamic Earth
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a spoonful of chocolate syrup
and then with whipped cream.
The filled pie crust is placed
upside down (broad side on the
bottom) on the graham cracker.
As the graham cracker is pulled
apart, the crust on the volcano
cracks, releasing lava. This is
representative of the process that
forms volcanoes along the midocean ridge.
Hot Spot Volcanoes: Some
volcanoes form from “hot spots”
in earth’s mantle. Hot spots
are areas where magma melts
through the crust and erupts.
The Hawaiian Islands are an
example of a landform caused
by hotspots. Students will use
sugar cookies and icing to model
hot spot volcanoes. Students
will frost a sugar cookie with a
layer of red frosting, modeling
the magma. Students will then
top this with a layer of chocolate
frosting. The layer of chocolate
frosting should not be even
and should be thin enough at
a certain point to allow the red
frosting to show through. After
discussion of hot spot volcanoes,
students can add more red
frosting to the hot spot to model
magma erupting through a hot
spot in earth’s crust and forming
a mountain.
Folded mountains: Rock
stretched by compression forces
cause folds in earth’s crust.
The collision of two plates
can cause this compression
and folding of the crust. An
example of mountains formed
by this process would be the
Himalayas in Asia and Europe.
Students will construct models
of folded mountains using four
colors of clay or Play-Doh. The
students will flatten and lay
down four layers of clay on top
of each other. Students will then
compress the clay layers from
opposite ends, noting the folded
mountains that appear. Students
can then cut through the
mountains for a trans-sectional
view.
Rift Valley: Rift valleys
are valleys that form along
divergent boundaries. Divergent
boundaries are places where
earth’s plates are moving apart.
In addition to the divergent
plate volcanoes noted above,
rift valleys can also occur when
plates move apart. Students will
construct a model of a rift valley
using a caramel candy bar (Milky
Way candy bars work well). As
students pull apart the candy
bar, the chocolate top “caves in”
and forms a rift. Eventually, the
candy bar will be pulled in half.
The Great Rift Valley in Africa is
an example of a rift valley formed
by divergent plates. Much like
the candy bar that is eventually
pulled in half, scientists predict
that eventually the Great Rift
Valley in Africa may split the
eastern part of Africa away from
the rest of the continent.
Culminating Activity
Ask students to select one of the
above landforms and develop
another way to model the
processes that form their chosen
landform. Students can then
present their models to the class.
Evaluation Method
Evaluation should be done
informally as the students
construct each model. A
cumulative assessment can be
done with a traditional test.
In addition, the culminating
activity will serve as an authentic
assessment.