Pangea “All Lands”
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Age: Grades 4, 5, 6 Subject: Earth Science Skills: Following directions, observation, organization, comparing and contrasting, inference, application Duration: Two or three 50 minute class periods Group Size: Any Setting: Classroom Key Vocabulary: plate tectonics, continental drift, lithosphere, mantle, core, crust names of the continents Materials: Video Student Sheet of Pangea scissors markers/colored pencils atlases blue construction paper Objectives: Demonstrate how the earth’s land masses were once one huge land mass known as Pangea. Students will fit continents together forming one large land mass. Describe the processes that cause plate movement. Method: The students will label and cutout the continents on their student sheet. They will then try to fit them together into one large land mass. When they have the best fit, they glue the pieces to a sheet of blue construction paper. Background: According to the theory of continental drift, the continents once formed one large land mass. As new crust formed at the mid-Atlantic rift, the seafloor began to spread apart. The spreading of the seafloor widened the Atlantic Ocean and separated the one large land mass into the continents as we know them today. Procedure: Show video: Building of the Earth of the Planet Earth Series or a similar video which depicts the process of plate tectonics. During the viewing students use two column note format to record important vocabulary and concepts. After viewing and discussion, provide the student sheet for each student. Students label each of the continents. They can either label Eurasia or two separate continents. They also have to draw and label Antarctica. Color continents and cut out. Try to fit them together in the best way possible. Glue onto a blue sheet of construction paper. You now have a Pangea Map. Make sure your map has a title, compass rose, and a key. Evaluation: The following grading sheet applies to the Pangea activity: Title (10 points) Eurasia (10 points) Compass Rose (20 points) Antarctica (5 points) South America (5 points) Australia (5 points) North America (5 points) Key (20 points) Africa (5 points) Neatness (15 points) Total points: 100 Extension: Using a map of the world, outline the plates. Students could build a model of the earth and outline the plates. Sources: Film - Planet Earth Series, Building of the Earth, No. HS300, 1984, Hayes School Publishing Co., Inc., Wilkinsburg, PA |