Plate Tectonics
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Topics
- Plate Tectonics
- Crust
- Lithosphere
- Mantle
- Density
- Buoyancy
- Earth Science
Description
Explore how plates move on the surface of the earth. Change temperature, composition, and thickness of plates. Discover how to create new mountains, volcanoes, or oceans!
Sample Learning Goals
- Describe the differences between oceanic and continental crust, including their respective properties of density, composition, temperature and thickness.
- Predict how changes in composition and temperature change crust density and buoyancy.
- Draw a time series for different types of plate boundaries and their motions, indicating the related surface features.
- Deduce the type of plate boundary given images or descriptions of surface features.
- Explain which types of plate boundaries create crust, and which destroy crust
Version 1.02
Teacher Tips
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Overview of sim controls, model simplifications, and insights into student thinking ( PDF ). |
Teacher-Submitted Activities
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Authors | Level | Type | Subject |
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| Plate Tectonics Inquiry |
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Courtney Fadley, Noah Podolefsky | MS | Lab | Earth Science |
| PhET Plate Tectonics |
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David Moutoux | HS | Lab | Earth Science | |
| Plate Tectonics |
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Karen Mogren | HS | Lab | Earth Science | |
| How do PhET simulations fit in my middle school program? |
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Sarah Borenstein | MS | Other | Biology Earth Science Chemistry Physics |
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| Alignment of PhET sims with NGSS |
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Trish Loeblein | HS | Other | Physics Earth Science Biology Chemistry |
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| MS and HS TEK to Sim Alignment | Elyse Zimmer | HS MS |
Other | Chemistry Physics Biology |
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| Plate Tectonics PhET | Lindsay Waack, Shelby Halliday | MS HS |
Discuss Guided Lab HW |
Earth Science | ||
| Plate Tectonic SIM Lab | Marc Alderman | MS | Lab Guided |
Earth Science | ||
| Plate Tectonics Lab! | Jamie Schoenberger | MS | Lab Guided |
Earth Science | ||
| Plate Tectonic Simulation | Kevin Birkholz | MS | Guided Lab |
Earth Science | ||
| Plate Tectonics Lab | Cesar Duran | MS | Lab | Earth Science | ||
| Kinematics | Wang Yunhe | HS | Lab | Physics | ||
| Plate Motions Lab Sheet | Brian Puls | MS K-5 |
Lab | Earth Science | ||
| NGSS Simulation Alignment/Correlation | Matthew Huffine | HS MS UG-Intro K-5 |
Demo Other |
Other | ||
| struttura e vita di un pianeta roccioso | Sossio Del Prete | MS HS |
Guided Discuss Lab MC |
Astronomy Earth Science |
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| Montagne, vulcani e oceani | Sossio Del Prete | MS K-5 |
Lab | Earth Science |
This simulation is incompatible with Macs due to an incompatibility between the graphics hardware on those systems and the 3D graphics library (LWJGL) used in the simulation.
| Design Team | Third-party Libraries | Thanks To |
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