Station 2: The Jigsaw Puzzle Fit
What do you think the three following topics mean? Before you start watching the videos below and visiting the suggested websites, make a prediction about what you will be learning in this station.
Your predictions should be recorded in your individual Google document, Plate Tectonics - Evidence for Continental Drift - Individual Thoughts. You are then to share your predictions in the class Google Document Plate Tectonics - Evidence for Continental Drift - Station 2.
- Matching Geological Structures and Rocks
- Matching Fossils
- Climatic Evidence for Continental Drift
Your predictions should be recorded in your individual Google document, Plate Tectonics - Evidence for Continental Drift - Individual Thoughts. You are then to share your predictions in the class Google Document Plate Tectonics - Evidence for Continental Drift - Station 2.
Time to Research (Visit, Read, Watch, & Take Notes)
Now that you have made your predictions, take the time to visit the following websites and to watch the following videos (note, due to copyright, you will need to watch certain videos on outside links). They then read the sections and compare their predictions to what they learned.
Allow the following to guide your through your research and note taking process.
Allow the following to guide your through your research and note taking process.
- What Is Continental Drift theory?
- Evidence for Continental Drift Using Coastlines
- Evidence for Continental Drift Using Ancient
Organisms
- Evidence for Continental Drift Using Ancient
Climates
- Earth Features That Relate to Plate Tectonics
- Evidence from Ocean Rock and Sediments
- Evidence from Paleomagnetism
- Sea Floor Spreading: An Explanation
Websites:
You are not required to visit all of the websites listed below. There are a variety of sites for you to choose from; sites listed towards the top are highly recommended for you to visit.
- Continental Drift by National Geographic Education's Encyclopedic Entry: Continental Drift
- Continental Drift by BBC's Bitesize
- Continental Drift on Wikipedia.
- People and Discoveries: Wegener Proposes Idea of Continental Drift 1912 by PBS.
- When Continental Drift Was Considered Pseudoscience by Richard Conniff in The Smithsonian Magazine (Thank-you Kat for providing us this excellent link!)
Videos:
You are not required to watch all of the videos listed below. Again the videos listed towards the top are highly recommended.
The Science Channels 100 Greatest Discoveries: Continental Drift
- Continental Drift (11:57) by Michael Sammartano
- Alfred Wegener and the Continental Drift (5:06) by Tom Clauset
- From Pangaea to Modern Continents (0:25) by Michael Klaas (Thank-you Marcos for providing us this excellent link!)
Check In
Let's have a check in. Take the time to answer the following questions; record your answers in Plate Tectonics - Evidence for Continental Drift - Individual Thoughts. (You should be able to answer the following questions without having to refer to your notes).
- What was Wegener's career? How did his career lead to his interest in the movement of the continents, ultimately leading to his Continental Drift Theory?
- The continents were once together as one, what was the name of this Supercontinent? What Greek words were used by Wegener to name the supercontinent?
- What geological landforms show evidence that the continents once formed a Supercontinent?
- Why was Wegener interested in fossils of the Mesosaurus, Cynognathus, and Lytaosaurus?
- What is paleoglaciation?
Reminder
During this station if you have any questions join the discussion in the class Google Document, Plate Tectonics - Evidence for Continental Drift - Station 2. You should not be sharing your answers in the class Google Document! Information shared on this document should be in the nature of a discussion, that will help you establish your own answers.