Activity 1.9 Locating Plate Boundaries (Grades 7-8)
Activity 1.9 uses students' knowledge of volcanoes and earthquakes to construct a plate tectonic map. Introduce the theory of plate tectonics to your students. Before showing a map of the world's plates (figure 1.15), have students name volcanoes and earthquakes they are familiar with. Picture books or news stories might be useful. The distribution of volcanoes and earthquakes help to locate plate boundaries. Compare their maps to figure 1.15. Suggest using different symbols for different types of plate boundaries, i.e., convergent, divergent, or transform. Have students draw arrows to indicate the direction of plate motion at each boundary.
