Lesson Planet
Search educational resources
  • Sign In Try It Free
  • AI Teacher Tools
    • Discover Resources Search reviewed educational resources by keyword, subject, grade, type, and more
    • Curriculum Manager (My Content) Manage saved and uploaded resources and folders To Access the Curriculum Manager Sign In or Join Now
    • Browse Resource Directory Browse educational resources by subject and topic
    • Curriculum Calendar Explore curriculum resources by date
    • Lesson Planning Articles Timely and inspiring teaching ideas that you can apply in your classroom
    • Our Story
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Testimonials
    • Contact Us
  • Pricing
  • School Access
    • Your school or district can sign up for Lesson Planet — with no cost to teachers
      Learn More
  • Sign In
  • Try It Free

Hi, what do you want to do?

Create a lesson plan
Create a lesson plan
Generate resources with 80+ AI teacher tools
Generate resources with 80+ AI teacher tools
Search 200,000 instructional videos
Search 200,000 instructional videos
Find a teaching resource
Find a teaching resource
Get the Drift? Lesson PlanGet the Drift? Lesson Plan
Publisher
Curated OER
Curator Rating
Educator Rating
Not yet Rated
Lesson Plan

Get the Drift?

Curated and Reviewed by Lesson Planet
This Get the Drift? lesson plan also includes:
  • Worksheet
  • Join to access all included materials

The anticipatory set is clever: give groups five minutes to work on the puzzle and then discuss what strategies they used to match the few that connected. This introduces middle schoolers to the concept of continental drift. A portion of the lesson plan revolves around a video that is no longer produced, but the remainder of it is useful. A Pangaea puzzle and WebQuest worksheet are included. Note that the website presented in step one has changed to http://trackstar.4teachers.org/trackstar/. 

110 Views 117 Downloads
Concepts

continental drift, continents, plate tectonics, pangaea

Additional Tags

plate tectonics, continental drift, pangaea, alfred wegener, supercontinent, science
Show More Show Less

Resource Details

Grade
6th - 9th
Subjects
Science
3 more...
Resource Type
Lesson Plans
Audience
For Teacher Use
Duration
2 days
Instructional Strategies
Research
3 more...
Technology
WebQuest

See similar resources:

Lesson Plan

Pangaea Puzzle Pieces

Curated OER
Young scholars i examine 10 pieces of evidence for the Pangaea theory and use them to reconstruct the super continent. They determine that land masses on Earth are slowly changing shape as a result of moving for millions of years.
9th - 12th Science
Instructional Video

The Pangaea Pop-up

TED-Ed
The amazing animation for a video on continental drift is comprised of the pages of a sophisticated pop-up book, The Moving Earth. As the pages turn, your earth scientists discover the tectonic plates of the lithosphere and the...
4 mins 5th - 12th Science
CCSS: Adaptable
Lesson Plan

Continental Drift

Curated OER
Be sure to come prepared to discuss the theory of Pangaea and the two super-continents, Laurasia and Gondwanaland. Collaborative learners look for fossil evidence that supports the theory that one super-continent divided into two. They...
6th - 8th Science
Worksheet

Before Pangaea, Rodinia

Curated OER
In this Pangaea and Rodinia activity, students complete 16 sentences about Wegener's theory of continental drift, the meaning of Pangaea, and why people rejected the theory of continental drift.
7th - 9th Science
Worksheet

Continental Drift Lab

Curated OER
In this continental drift worksheet, students cut out the continents and paste them together to make Pangaea. They answer ten questions about continental drift and the results of the continents moving.
8th - 10th Science
Interactive

Pbs Learning Media: Continental Drift: What's the Big Idea?

PBS
Students learn how the theory that explains the position of Earth's continents was established and later modified.
3rd - 8th Science
Worksheet

Bellwork for Week 8-Continental Drift and Fossils

Curated OER
In this continental drift and fossils worksheet, students complete a puzzle of the continents and they answer questions about fossils, the layers of the earth's crust, Wegener's continental drift theory and the major plates.
7th - 9th Science
Lesson Plan

Yale New Haven Teachers Institute: The Great Continental Drift Mystery

Yale University
A unit on plate tectonics designed for middle school students, this page must be read carefully to find the activities to be done in the class, but it provides a wealth of background for the teacher as well.
9th - 10th Science
Worksheet

All About Continental Drift

Curated OER
In this earth science worksheet, students identify and locate vocabulary terms related to continental drift and geography. There are 54 words located in the puzzle.
5th - 10th Science
Lesson Plan

The Moving Continents from Pangaea to the Future

Curated OER
Eighth graders examine how the movements of the Earth contribute to fossil distribution.  In this fossils lesson plan students make maps of the placement of the continents. 
8th Science
Try It Free
© 1999-2026 Learning Explorer, Inc.
Teacher Lesson Plans, Worksheets and Resources

Sign up for the Lesson Planet Monthly Newsletter

Open Educational Resources (OER)

  • Health
  • Language Arts
  • Languages
  • Math
  • Physical Education
  • Science
  • Social Studies
  • Special Education
  • Visual and Performing Arts
View All Lesson Plans

Discover Resources

  • Our Review Process
  • How it Works
  • How to Search
  • Create a Collection

Manage Curriculum

  • Edit a Collection
  • Assign to Students
  • Manage My Content
Contact Us Site Map Privacy Policy Terms of Use