Hobbies And Interests
The Earth̵7;s Interior
Students need an understanding of the Earth's interior to understand plate tectonics. Fruit with a sizable pit is a good analogy for demonstrating the construction of the Earth's interior. A plum or peach works well, as students can easily cut these fruits in half. The size of the features of peaches and plums are very similar in proportion to the Earth̵7;s interior. Cut a plum in half and show the students the thin layer of skin and the seed located in the center. Show the students the mass of the fruit is contained within the flesh. Earth, in a similar fashion, possesses a thin crust and a core at the center. As in the case of the plum or peach, Earth̵7;s mantle contains most of the mass of our planet.
Draw with Me Presentations
Draw with Me presentations help students understand the spatial movement of tectonic plates. Students who take part in these drawing exercises get a deeper understanding of tectonic plates than if they simply read about them or discussed the subject in class. This is because students understand and remember best when they actually ̶0;do̶1; an activity. Draw with me presentations are enjoyable experiences that enhance a student̵7;s learning and retention processes. Students can also keep their drawings for future study and reference purposes. Teachers can use pre-drawn illustrations and place them on an overhead projector while students work with photocopies of the illustrations.
Shoe Box Model
Students can build a model from flexible foam board and a cardboard box to better understand the movement of oceanic tectonic plates. Join many pieces of foam board with tape to create two foam boards, which represent the oceanic lithosphere. Each strip represents a time period of 5 million years. Cut the lid of the box and insert both foam boards partly into these grooves. Have one board face to the right, while the other faces to the left. In nature, as these gigantic places are pushed up and to the side, magma from beneath the ocean forms additional sections of ocean floor. Slide the foam boards away from each other to simulate how new magma pushes the original sea floor aside to create a new ocean floor.
Volcanoes and Earthquakes
For this activity, request the students draw a tectonic plate map, using the location of existing volcanoes and the history of significant earthquakes, as reference points. Knowledge of the source of earthquakes and the distribution of volcanoes assists the students to find tectonic plate boundaries. Students can identify the three types of plate boundaries: Transform, convergent, and divergent.