Lesson 2: Plate Tectonics & the Ocean Floor (3)

Explore:

Show the video, “Underwater Vents and Volcanoes”

As soon as the video is over, give students 3 minutes to “Brain Dump” what they recall from the video.

1. Take a sheet of paper and list or write a paragraph about everything they remember from the video.
2. Next, share there “Brain Dump” with a side partner. Have students add anything to their lists that they partner had that they did not have.
3. Last, give students 3 minutes to do an internet search on “underwater vents and volcanoes,” listing all new facts they find. Partner share new results.

Check for Understanding (formative assessment)

Use a “Whip-Around” to check for understanding. Each student will share one thing they learned about underwater vents and volcanoes from the video and their internet search that they listed or wrote about during the “Brain Dump” activity above.

Explain:

Reflective Questions

Does the location of earthquakes and volcanoes show a pattern? 

Most of the Pacific Ocean is on what plate? What plate are we located on? In what compass direction is the Pacific Plate moving? Juan de Fuca plate? Where is magma rising to the surface and forming oceanic crust? Why is it that the Pacific Ocean floor is no older than about 200 million years old, yet the continents are much older? What is convection?

Elaborate:

Students should be able to add a model of a subduction zone with a seamount to the 3-D clay model they formed in Lesson 1.

Evaluate:

Tell:

Now that you have had an opportunity to explore plate tectonics and the ocean floor, spend 5 minutes filling in the “L” for “Learned” section of your K-W-L for Plate Tectonics and the Ocean Floor sheet.