Lessons Using Our Dynamic Planet
Introduction: These lessons are extracted from lab activities
used in the UCSB Introduction to Oceanography course, as taught by William
Prothero. They are organized to take approximately one hour per lesson and
are suitable for laboratory or individual inquiry. They each use the "Our
Dynamic Planet" CDROM to gather Earth data to learn about plate tectonics.
They can be used as endpoint activities, or as scaffolding for science writing
assignments. The links on the left access various supplementary materials
that may be useful to the teacher.
Why is plate tectonics relevant? Every time there is an earthquake, plate
tectonics is playing its part. The Sumatra earthquake and tsunami were a
dramatic result of plate tectonic movements. Those who live on plate boundaries
(e.g. California) are particularly susceptible to the effects of plate tectonics.
Target Audience: The activities were originally implemented in an introductory
general science course at UCSB. However, they are appropriate for secondary
schools and many can be used by middle school teachers. See the "K-12 Applications"
link at the left.
Lessons: The lessons are meant to take one hour. Each lessons
uses Earth data contained on the "Our Dynamic Planet" CDROM. Students are
encouraged to explore the data and discover how plate tectonics works and
to compare different regions on the Earth.
The list below takes you to the lesson materials for each study.
- Exploring the shape of the ocean basins
- Discovering the tectonic plates
- Exploring the plate boundaries I (convergent, divergent, transform)
- Exploring the plate boundaries II (compare and contrast, spreading rates)
- Seafloor spreading (seafloor age, spreading rate, how it varies)
- Magnetization of the seafloor (how we determine the seafloor age)
Implementation suggestions: It is important to create environments where
students feel accountable for their work. Group work is helpful, in many
cases. A student (or group) presentation and discussion of findings is also
useful. A mock science meeting could be tried.
Would you like to contribute a lesson plan or link to this site? If so,
please contact me.
