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Item Type(s):
This benchmark may be assessed using:
MC
item(s)
Also Assesses - Clarification :
Students will describe the scientific theory of plate tectonics and/or how the movement of Earth’s crustal plates and the flow of heat and material cause various geologic events to occur.
Students will identify and/or describe the layers of Earth. - Content Limits :
Items will not assess types of volcanoes but may assess different causes of volcano formation.
Items will not assess types of earthquake waves.
Items may assess density differences between layers of Earth but will not assess density differences as they relate to plate tectonics.
Items assessing the layers of Earth are limited to the crust, the lithosphere, the hot convecting mantle, the outer (liquid) core, and the inner (solid) core. - Stimulus Attributes :
None specified - Response Attributes :
None specified - Prior Knowledge :
This benchmark grouping is foundational. These concepts have not been introduced in the NGSSS prior to this grade-level grouping.
SC.7.E.6.1 Describe the layers of the solid Earth, including the lithosphere, the hot convecting mantle, and the dense metallic liquid and solid cores.
SC.7.E.6.7 Recognize that heat flow and movement of material within Earth causes earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, and creates mountains and ocean basins.
- Test Item #: Sample Item 1
- Question: Interactions between layers of Earth cause convection currents to move crustal plates. The diagram below shows four layers of Earth.
in which layer of earth are the convection currents that directly result in tectonic plate motion found? - Difficulty: N/A
- Type: MC: Multiple Choice
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Lesson Plans
Original Student Tutorials
Perspectives Video: Teaching Idea
Resource Collection
Text Resources
Video/Audio/Animations
Virtual Manipulative
Original Student Tutorials Science - Grades K-8
Investigate the type of boundaries that occur between plates on the Earth in this interactive tutorial.
Learn about the types of effects that can occur as a result of plate tectonics in this interactive tutorial.
Student Resources
Original Student Tutorials
Investigate the type of boundaries that occur between plates on the Earth in this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Learn about the types of effects that can occur as a result of plate tectonics in this interactive tutorial.
Type: Original Student Tutorial
Video/Audio/Animation
Excerpted from NOVA: "Volcanoes of the Deep", this video segment reveals strange and luminescent forms of life, such as giant tube worms, spider crabs, and billions of microbes clumped together like a cottony web. The site where life began on Earth may have been where black smokers stream from hydrothermal vents and chimneys along the sea floor.
Type: Video/Audio/Animation
Virtual Manipulative
In this resource, you can explore how tectonic plates move on the surface of the Earth. The interactive simulation takes you through 0-50 millions years of movement.
Type: Virtual Manipulative
Parent Resources
Resource Collection
An educator, David Robinson, created this website to supply high quality materials dealing with various aspects of physical geography to educators and students. The website provides extensive information for five main categories: earthquakes, plate tectonics and continental drift, volcanoes and volcanics, glaciers and glaciation, and a physical geography glossary. Examples of the topics covered include an examination of the Mount St. Helens eruption, an introduction to predicting earthquakes, and the glacial formations of corries. Although the content was created primarily for twelve- to sixteen-year-old students, much of the material is applicable to all introductory earth science courses and can prove very beneficial for all interested in physical geography.
Type: Resource Collection
