Unit Plan
E-learning for Kids

E Learning for Kids: Madagascar: What Are Tectonic Plates and How Are They Moving?

For Students 5th - 7th
This lesson teaches students about tectonic plates, plate boundaries, and their role in earthquakes and volcanoes.
Interactive
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Tectonic Plates, Earthquakes, and Volcanoes

For Students 9th - 10th
This interactive activity produced for Teachers' Domain shows the relationship between tectonic boundaries and the locations of earthquake events and volcanoes around the world.
Unit Plan
CommonLit

Common Lit: Plate Tectonics: Moving and Shaking

For Students 7th - 8th
A learning module that begins with "Plate Tectonics: Moving and Shaking," accompanied by guided reading questions, assessment questions, and discussion questions. The text can be printed as a PDF or assigned online through free teacher...
Activity
Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education, Stevens Institute of Technology

Ciese: Musical Plates: A Study of Earthquakes and Plate Tectonics

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This activity has students access USGS earthquake information to plot the their locations on a world map. Doing this will help students discover for themselves the boundaries of tectonic plates.
Handout
Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology

Iris: Gps Measuring Plate Motion [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th
This resource looks at how geologists are able to measure the movement of tectonic plates using satellite-based data and how they were able to surmise in the past that the plates were moving. It also discusses how to read GPS time-series...
Online Course
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: Essential Science for Teachers: Earth and Space 3

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Visit an active volcano site to find out the connection between the movement of the Earth's plates and the processes deep within the Earth's interior. [58:23]
Unit Plan
Vision Learning

Visionlearning: Earth Science: Plate Tectonics Ii: Plate Boundaries and Forces

For Students 9th - 10th
Instructional module focusing on plate tectonics. Discussion includes plates, plate boundaries, and driving forces. Site also includes an interactive practice quiz and links relating to the topic.
Interactive
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: Volcanoes: Forecasting Eruptions

For Students 9th - 10th
A look at some of the methods and problems with forecasting volcanic eruptions.
Website
Other

Digital Library for Earth System Education: Teaching Box: Plate Tectonics

For Teachers 9th - 10th
A suite of lessons focusing on finding the fossil evidence for lithospheric plate tectonics. Inquiry-based exploration of plate tectonics evidence includes fossil distribution, earthquakes, and volcanoes.
Unit Plan
Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education, Stevens Institute of Technology

Ciese Real Time Data Projects: Musical Plates: A Study of Earthquakes

For Teachers 9th - 10th
In this project, students use Real-time and volcano data from the Internet to explore the relationship between earthquakes, plate tectonics, and volcanos.
Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Musical Plates: A Study of Earthquakes and Plate Tectonics

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Four part lab activity involves students using real-time data to solve a problem, study the correlation between earthquakes and tectonic plates, and determine whether or not there is a relationship between volcanoes and plate boundaries.
Website
US Geological Survey

Usgs: Volcanic Hazards, Features, and Phenomena

For Students 9th - 10th
Site from the U.S. Geological Survey provides a brief list of volcano terminology including descriptions as well as links to major menus.
Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: Dynamic Earth Interactives

For Students 9th - 10th
Interactive tutorials on plate tectonics, plates and boundaries, and the Earth's structure convey the dynamism of geologic processes, such as earthquakes and volcanoes. Takes a multidimensional approach to coverage of basic geologic...
Handout
Other

University of Delaware: Plate Tectonics

For Students 3rd - 8th
This site is a very simple overview of plate tectonics. It includes a map of all the major plates and a diagram of the layers of the earth.
Unit Plan
Concord Consortium

Concord Consortium: Exploring Earth's Seismicity

For Students 9th - 10th
This sequence is an introduction to plate tectonics using evidence from topographical maps, earthquake location and depth, and volcano location using the Seismic Explorer model to investigate patterns of earthquake data and to infer the...
Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Ring of Fire 1: What Volcanoes Tell Us About Plate Tectonics

For Students 6th - 8th
The Ring of Fire is a region of volcanic and earthquake activity that surrounds the Pacific Ocean. In this project you can explore the connection between plate tectonics and volcanic activity by mapping historical data.
Interactive
University of Colorado

University of Colorado: Ph Et Interactive Simulations: Plate Tectonics

For Students 9th - 10th
Explore how plates move on the surface of the earth. Change temperature, composition, and thickness of plates. Discover how to create new mountains, volcanoes, or oceans! Java is required.
Graphic
Oregon State University

Osu: Volcano World: Spreading Plate Boundaries

For Students 9th - 10th
This page has pictures and descriptions of different areas on Earth where the plates are spreading. Also includes links to more information on slow, medium, and fast moving plates.
Unit Plan
Sophia Learning

Sophia: Geology: Plate Tectonics

For Students 6th - 8th
An basic introduction to plate tectonics and the Earth's processes related to this phenomenon.
Interactive
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: Volcanoes

For Students 9th - 10th
This interactive from Annenberg Learner asks the question of whether erumptions of volcanoes can be predicted. Review what you already know about volcanoes, and move on to forecasting potential. Several short video clips are included as...
Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Writing to Support the Theory of Plate Tectonics

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This lesson helps students use images that depict earthquakes, seafloor ages, topography, and volcanoes, and then make a scientific argument supporting the Theory of Plate Tectonics.
Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Writing About Plate Tectonics

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This lesson is a writing assignment focussed on the use of data to support the theory of plate tectonics. It includes a scoresheet that was created for a calibrated peer review assignment. The assignment directs students to determine the...
Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Plate Kinematics

For Teachers 9th - 10th
In this activity, young scholars will observe and understand the basic kinematics of plate movement, how oceans are formed during continental rifting, and the relationship between plate geometry and tectonic data such as earthquakes,...
Unit Plan
CPALMS

Florida State University Cpalms: Florida Students: Mantle Convection and Earth's Features

For Students 6th - 8th
A resource to help understand that the movement of the Earth's tectonic plates is caused by convection. The plates' movements cause geologic features on the Earth's surface.