Science Lesson Kit · Teacher Resource
Plate Tectonics: A Changing Earth — 5E Lesson Plan
Earth Science · 55 minutes
Grade 6
5E lesson flow
01
Engage
7 min
Teacher Does
Show a map of earthquake locations and plate-boundary zones.
Students Do
Describe spatial patterns before offering explanations.
Ask
- Where do events cluster?
- How closely does the pattern match the boundaries?
Look For
Evidence-first statements without claiming perfect overlap.
02
Explore
14 min
Teacher Does
Give groups divergent/convergent boundary diagrams and rock-process cards.
Students Do
Compare plate motion and build several valid material pathways.
Ask
- What moves?
- Can the same starting rock follow another path?
Look For
Accurate boundary-motion reasoning and network thinking.
03
Explain
10 min
Teacher Does
Connect plate tectonics, internal energy, surface processes, weathering, melting, and crystallization.
Students Do
Annotate diagrams and label rock-cycle process arrows.
Ask
- What process does this arrow represent?
- What energy driver best fits?
Look For
Correct process labels and energy-source distinctions.
04
Elaborate
15 min
Teacher Does
Provide a new tectonic setting and ask students to revise an Earth-material model.
Students Do
Use evidence to justify boundary type and likely material changes.
Ask
- Which evidence supports your model revision?
Look For
Cautious evidence-based tectonic explanations.
05
Evaluate
9 min
Teacher Does
Assign an individual map-and-model explanation.
Students Do
Explain one boundary pattern and one rock-cycle pathway.
Ask
- What does each arrow mean?
- What does the evidence support but not prove?
Look For
Accurate, appropriately limited claims.
Student goal
I can use maps and models to explain how plate motion and rock-cycle processes change Earth.
Learning objectives
- I can use a map pattern to support a tectonic explanation.
- I can compare divergent and convergent plate-boundary models.
- I can build a rock-cycle model with labeled processes and more than one possible pathway.
Materials
- Plate-boundary diagrams
- Earthquake/volcano pattern map
- Rock-cycle process cards
- Paper
- Markers
Before class
- Prepare multiple possible rock-cycle pathways.
- Display a boundary evidence map.
- Avoid the 'plates float on a liquid magma ocean' misconception.
- Keep internal and surface energy drivers distinct.
- Open Teach This Lesson and Practice before class.
Prior knowledge
- Students know rocks are Earth materials.
- Students can interpret arrows and spatial patterns on a map.
Vocabulary
- tectonic plate
- A large moving piece of Earth's rigid outer shell.
- plate boundary
- A region where two tectonic plates meet.
- divergent boundary
- A boundary where plates move apart.
- convergent boundary
- A boundary where plates move toward each other.
- weathering
- The breakdown of rock into smaller pieces at Earth's surface.
- sediment
- Small pieces of rock or other Earth material that can be moved and deposited.
- rock cycle
- The many pathways by which Earth materials change from one rock type or material to another.
Differentiation
- Provide boundary-motion arrow cards.
- Use sentence frames for claim–evidence–reasoning.
- Provide rock-process cards with icons.
- For extension, ask students to show two alternative rock-cycle pathways from the same starting material.
Assessment
- Check boundary-type identification.
- Check map-pattern reasoning.
- Check labeled rock-cycle arrows.
- Check the distinction between internal and surface energy drivers.
- Check for the magma-ocean misconception.
Exit ticket
Use one map pattern to support a tectonic claim, then draw two connected rock-cycle processes and label the arrows.
Extension
Revise a rock-cycle pathway after changing the tectonic setting. Explain which process arrows change and why.