MS - ESS2.B - Maps of Ancient Lands - FINAL (RC 1/29/2014)

Module: Maps of Ancient Lands

DCI: ESS2.B (0) Maps of ancient land and water patterns, based on investigations of rocks and fossils, make clear how Earth’s plates have moved great distances, collided, and spread apart.

Connections to Nature of Science: Scientific Knowledge is Open to Revision in Light of New Evidence: Science findings are frequently revised and/or reinterpreted based on new evidence.

PE: 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.

[Clarification Statement: Examples of data include similarities of rock and fossil types on different continents, the shapes of the continents (including continental shelves), and the locations of ocean structures (such as ridges, fracture zones, and trenches).]  [Assessment Boundary: Paleomagnetic anomalies in oceanic and continental crust are not assessed.]

The ideas we see in this standard are: 

- We know that the Earth's tectonic plates have moved great distances, collided, and spread apart. 

- We know this because we can investigate rocks and fossils to predict how the ancient Earth might have looked. 

One interesting thing about this batch is that  this one is aligned to the nature of science.  We can write one question addressed to the idea that our understandings of scientific processes are always being reshaped as new information is brought to light.  

We can write two additional questions aligned to the DCI.  (What types of evidence support the idea that the Earth's tectonic plates have moved in a certain way?) And, then we can write two questions to the PE.  In order to do this, we will need to provide some sort of data and ask students what the data suggest.  We need to be careful here though, because we don't always want the answer to be that the data suggest the plates have moved, we will need to be more creative in our answer choices. 

Possible Question Starters:
- This one would align to the PE - 

"The Mid-Atlantic ridge, shown in the diagram, is used as evidence to support the idea that tectonic plates are moving away from each other. The rocks near the Mid-Atlantic ridge provide evidence for this idea because as you move out from the ridge - 

correct answer - the rocks are increasingly older.

incorrect answer - become thicker and thicker.

-This would align to the DCI - 

"Before they had evidence from rocks and fossils, many scientists theorized that the continents were once joined together.  Using only maps, they observed that -"

correct answer - the shapes of the continents allowed them to fit together. 

incorrect answer - the oceans have become smaller throughout Earth's history. 

Here's another picture - from a different NGSS assessment, that we might be able to use if needed.