Plate Tectonics Unit Plan

Want your plate tectonics lesson plans done for you? Download this plate tectonics unit plan and teacher’s guide for FREE! This unit plan covers continental drift, theory of plate tectonics, and more, and includes everything you need to teach a complete plate tectonics unit for grades 8-12!

This unit plan follows the 5E instructional method: engagement, exploration, explanation, elaboration, and evaluation, and facilitates student-led learning with minimal prep time. This plate tectonics unit includes a detailed unit plan with NGSS standards, vocabulary, objectives, essential questions, pacing, and more, pre-made unit plan, lesson planning templates, and more!

⭐ PLATE TECTONICS UNIT PLAN INCLUDES ⭐

• Unit Overview, Big Idea, and NGSS Standards
• Enduring Understandings, Essential Questions, and Objectives
• Unit Vocabulary
• Pacing Guide
• Resources Overview with Links
• Pre-Made Unit Plan
• Unit Plan Template
• Daily Lesson Plan Template
• Editable Unit Plan

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⭐ PLATE TECTONICS UNIT TOPICS ⭐

• Alfred Wegener
• Pangaea
• Continental Drift
• Evidence for Continental Drift
• Seafloor Spreading
• Evidence for Seafloor Spreading
• Mid-Ocean Ridges
• Deep Ocean Trenches
• Convection Currents
• Types of Crust
• Subduction
• Tectonic Plates
• Plate Boundaries
• Features that Occur at Plate Boundaries
• Hot Spots
• Ring of Fire

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⭐ PLATE TECTONICS UNIT PLAN NGSS STANDARDS ⭐

• HS-ESS1-5: Evaluate evidence of the past and current movements of continental and oceanic crust and the theory of plate tectonics to explain the ages of crustal rocks.
• HS-ESS2-1: Develop a model to illustrate how Earth’s internal and surface processes operate at different spatial and temporal scales to form continental and ocean-floor features.
• HS-ESS2-3: Develop a model based on evidence of Earth’s interior to describe the cycling of matter by thermal convection.
• MS-ESS2-1: Develop a model to describe the cycling of Earth’s materials and the flow of energy that drives this process.
• MS-ESS2-2: Construct an explanation based on evidence for how geoscience processes have changed Earth’s surface at varying time and spatial scales.
• MS-ESS2-3: Analyze and interpret data on the distribution of fossils and rocks, continental shapes, and seafloor structures to provide evidence of the past plate motions.

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