08 Earthquakes & Plates

👩‍🏫 Teacher’s Guide

Objective

Students will recognize Earth’s plates, plate boundaries, and how earthquakes are measured.

Vocabulary

plate, mantle, boundary, fault, collide, seismometer, magnitude, duration

Teaching Notes

Start with a quick demo or model to visualize the concept.
Pre-teach key vocabulary with gestures or sketches.
Prompt students to predict, observe, and explain in full sentences.
Check for understanding using either/or and short-answer prompts.

🧒 Student Worksheet

Concept and Helping Material

No videos found.

Definition. Plates move on the mantle and interact at boundaries; sudden movement causes earthquakes measured by magnitude and effects.

Helping ideas and samples:

Try a quick sort, draw-and-label, or compare-and-contrast.
Name one place you see this idea at home or at school.
Safety: follow teacher directions and handle materials carefully.

Vocabulary and Definition

— large section of Earth’s crust
— layer of hot rock beneath the crust
— edge where plates meet
— break where rock blocks move
— to crash together
— tool that records ground motion
— measure of earthquake energy
— how long an earthquake lasts

Words to Learn

, , , , , , ,

Sentences to Fill In

1. Earth’s crust is broken into large .

2. Plates ride on the hot .

3. Earthquakes often occur at plate .

4. A break where rocks move is a .

5. Scientists record shaking with a .

Hands-On Experiment or Activities

What You Need: simple classroom items.

What You Do: Gelatin shake test: build two toothpick-and-marshmallow ‘buildings’ on gelatin—compare wide, cross-braced vs. tall, narrow during shaking.

Think and Talk: What changed? What stayed the same?

Reflection

Why are shorter buildings often more stable in quakes?
How does cross-bracing help a structure?