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Plate Tectonics Games & Dream Vacation
Resource ID#: 152687
Primary Type: Lesson Plan
This document was generated on CPALMS - www.cpalms.org
Students will love the copious amounts of plate tectonics review games in this lesson. They will
also create their dream vacations by making their own Tectonic Travel Itinerary!
Subject(s): Science
Grade Level(s): 9, 10, 11, 12
Intended Audience: Educators
Instructional Time: 3 Hour(s)
Keywords: plate tectonics, divergent, convergent, transform
Instructional Component Type(s): Lesson Plan, Worksheet, Project , Educational Game
, Presentation/Slideshow
Resource Collection: FCR-STEMLearn Earth Systems 2016
ATTACHMENTS
Review_Games.docx
Travel_Itinerary.docx
Kahoot_Questions.docx
Plate_Tectonics_PowerPoint.pptx
Taboo.pptx
Cornell_Notes.docx
LESSON CONTENT

Lesson Plan Template:
General Lesson Plan

Learning Objectives: What should students know and be able to do as a result of this
lesson?
Students will be able to analyze the scientific theory of plate tectonics and identify related major processes
and features as a result of moving plates.

Prior Knowledge: What prior knowledge should students have for this lesson?
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o
o
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Guiding Questions: What are the guiding questions for this lesson?
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o

Students should know the earth layers (inner core, outer core, mantle, and oceanic and continental
crust) and be able to differentiate and detail the specific earth layers.
Students should be understand that convection is due to density differences in a material, where
the less dense material rises and the denser material falls.
Students should know that convection is occurring in the mantle, due to heating from the inner
core due to accretion and radioactive decay.
How can we predict and understand changes to Earth's surface?
How might the landmasses and the oceans be different on Earth in 5 million years?
Teaching Phase: How will the teacher present the concept or skill to students?
Lesson opener/attention getter:
1.
2.
3.
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Introduce topic by showing the video "Plate Tectonics - A Documentary" (7:39, uploaded by
YouTube user Isaac Frame).
Provide 2-3 land formations to each table or group. They will need to come up to the board and
place the land formation correctly in the graphic organizer. Teacher can review answers and
explain misconceptions. (document attached). If you have a Smartboard, this chart can be created
and completed there.
Key talking points about the lesson topic:
 Tectonic plates (lithosphere) move over the asthenosphere due to convection currents in
the mantle
 There are 2 types of tectonic plates (oceanic and continental)
 There are 3 types of plate boundaries (divergent, convergent, and transform)
 Volcanoes, earthquakes, mountains, rift valleys, ocean-spreading, etc. are all created due
to tectonic movement.
 Hot spot volcanoes are due to magma plumes, not plate movement.
Guided Practice: What activities or exercises will the students complete with teacher
guidance?
Plate Tectonics Review Games:
0.
1.
2.
Simon Says: Teacher demonstrates dance moves to represent each boundary (optional: play music
to loosen your students up to the activity). Students then perform the appropriate dance move for
each land formation or boundary the teacher calls out. Once students are comfortable with the
dance moves/land formations, teacher can either say or not say "Simon says" in front of the land
formation/boundary. If students incorrectly change dance moves, then they can sit down in their
seat and watch the end of the competition. You can increase pace of the game to increase the
challenge!
Four Corners: Label your room corners "divergent," "convergent," "transform" and "subduction."
Ask students to give examples of different land formations. Students will then walk to area of the
room that it corresponds to. Students at the wrong corners will sit in the middle (if all students are
getting the correct matches, then teacher may implement new rule: the last two students at the
correct corner will sit down in the middle). You may want to do this outside in grass, using trees
as the corners!
Taboo: Students will receive Plate Tectonic Vocabulary Taboo Cards and play this game in fours
(two students on a team). They will need to describe to their partner the vocabulary term, without
using the "taboo" words listed below the actual vocabulary word. Students can keep track of each
team's points on a piece of paper.
How will you check for student understanding? (Formative Assessment):
Teacher can easily assess student understanding of vocabulary and connections between vocabulary with
these games, by identifying correct plate boundary and land formation matching.
Common errors/misconceptions to anticipate and how to respond:
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Students will forget that trenches are formed at convergent boundaries and mid-ocean ridges and
rift-valleys are at divergent boundaries.
Provide additional pictures, visuals, and demos to demonstrate convergent subduction and
divergent boundaries.
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Independent Practice: What activities or exercises will students complete to reinforce
the concepts and skills developed in the lesson?
Review Games:
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1.
Tectonic Travel Itinerary: Students will plan their dream vacations in this activity! The only
stipulation is that they will need to visit all three boundaries and a hot-spot. Students will use a
plate boundary map to identify locations in the world that they can travel. They will also explore
activities that they can do at each boundary.
Kahoot: If students have computers, phones, or tablets, teachers can have students play this
Kahoot Game individually: Kahoot Website.
How will you check for student understanding? (Formative Assessment):
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Kahoot generates the class percentage of correct answers and identifies misconceptions. Teachers
can identify struggling students by printing out a roster and performance data.
Additionally, Travel Itinerary will help teacher easily recognize students who understand the
application of plate tectonics and land formations and those who still have misconceptions
(teacher can quickly look at the plate boundary and where they will visit, to see if they correctly
match).
Common errors/misconceptions to anticipate and how to respond:
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Misconceptions are listed as answer choices on the Kahoot. If there are misconceptions answered,
teacher can take time to reiterate correct content and relieve misconceptions.
Misconceptions may arise in student travel itinerary destinations. If so, teacher can recognize this
and re-teach topics that may continue to be perceived incorrectly by classmates.
Closure: How will the teacher assist students in organizing the knowledge gained in the
lesson?
Instructions for leading the closing discussion:
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Restate key talking points of this topic (same to the ones described at beginning of this lesson) and
ask students to rate themselves on this understanding using a 1-5 system; five being comfortable
enough to teach it their parents and one being completely lost, or describe the reasoning for the
key points occurrences with detail.
Exit slips asking students to record answers to certain questions, i.e. why subduction is occurring,
what land formations are created at a divergent boundary, or explain how density drives
convection currents.
Summative Assessment
How will the students show that they met the learning objectives?
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Students will create a travel itinerary that shows student understanding of what landforms are
created at various boundaries.
Students will take unit exam (formulated by school science department/district).

Formative Assessment
Specific suggestions for conducting Formative Assessment can be found in the Guided Practice and
Independent Practice phases of the lesson where it says, "How will you check for student understanding?"

Feedback to Students
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Re-direct students to research material if students have inaccurate information.
Re-direct students to the rubric if they are missing information in their projects.
During poster creation, prompt students to be conscientious of positioning to ensure a best fit (not
to too small or too large) for all star phases, including star pictures and star phase descriptions.
ACCOMMODATIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
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Accommodations:
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Struggling students: Offer extended time for activities, ask students to pick only one project to
summatively demonstrate knowledge, pair students, provide students with more fill in the
blank/matching pictures.
Gifted Students: Offer more individual practice, more time for detailed research, and require them
to cite their evidence resources.
Extensions:
Students can write a story as a sea creature's voyage from Florida to France, using their understanding of
plate tectonics, mid-ocean ridge formations, and magnetic stripping.
SOURCE AND ACCESS INFORMATION
Contributed by: Shannon Carmody
Name of Author/Source: Shannon Carmody
District/Organization of Contributor(s): Orange
License: CPALMS License - no distribution - non commercial
Related Standards
Name
SC.912.E.6.3:
Description
Analyze the scientific theory of plate tectonics and identify
related major processes and features as a result of moving
plates.
Remarks/Examples:
Discuss the development of plate tectonic theory, which is
derived from the combination of two theories: continental
drift and seafloor spreading. Compare and contrast the three
primary types of plate boundaries (convergent, divergent,
and transform). Explain the origin of geologic features and
processes that result from plate tectonics (e.g. earthquakes,
volcanoes, trenches, mid-ocean ridges, island arcs and
chains, hot spots, earthquake distribution, tsunamis,
mountain ranges).