Putting it all Together with Pangea

Maybe it was the growling of my stomach as I began writing this post. Maybe it was watching the 3 reams of paper go through the copy machine: worksheets destined for student desks, and ultimately, the trash. Either way, when I started researching creative methods for teaching students about continents, I looked for engaging and meaningful activities that would leave students with a lasting curiosity about how the earth came to look the way it looks today. Many students have learned about this topic on a very basic level, so I was looking for resources that would challenge students of all ages and skill levels to make learning connections with other subjects.

A few hundred million years ago, the land on earth formed one huge landmass, a super continent known as Pangea. In the years since, Pangea broke apart and the continents have drifted apart into the positions we are used to seeing on contemporary globes and maps of the world. I have seen many different variations of a Pangea puzzle, where students manipulate models of the continents to piece them back together to see what Pangea might have looked like before the dinosaurs roamed the earth. This activity can be done with scissors and paper and is simple to prepare. See Puzzling Pangea for an example. Older student in classrooms with smart board technology can get a good idea of how tectonic plates affect the movement of the continents. Plate Tectonics with Google Earth will allow them to use a smart board to virtually travel the globe in search of evidence of tectonic plates and will also give them a chance to manipulate the continents back into place in Pangea.

Although I think both activities are effective and do a great job using manipulatives, I got really excited when I read a blog post about making an edible Pangea. Basically, the idea is to bake a big cookie, cut out the shapes of the continents (they don’t have to be perfect), and lay the “continents” together as Pangea in a tray filled with pudding. Students then take turns creating “earthquakes” by shaking the tray. If all goes as planned, the continents will drift around the tray, and at the end, the class can enjoy a yummy treat. Now my growling stomach is happy!

While looking for a formal write-up of a similar “edible Pangea” lesson for the Gateway, I found many different variations on this theme. The following two resources creatively and comprehensively cover the subjects of continental drift, plate tectonics, and ocean floor measurement. I like them because they aren’t simply teaching science facts; they are teaching students how to DO science to answer a question on their own.

The first resource, Plate Tectonics, uses 5 activities to help students understand the structure of the earth and how the movement of the tectonic plates causes the continents to move. Each activity uses a different visual representation to explain these concepts. The models include a hard-boiled egg to show the earth’s cracked crust, cookies and pudding to demonstrate the movement of plates, and rubber bands to demonstrate fault lines. After a brief explanation of a concept, this resource allows students to make hands-on discoveries with the models they are given.

Sea Floor and Continental Drift also uses simplified, small-scale models to encourage students to go through the process scientists use to map the sea floor to find clues about how tectonic plate movement creates continental drift. I especially like how students have the chance to create their own miniature sea floor with salt dough in a shoebox and use a hole-punched grid and chopstick (simulating sonar mapping) to accurately measure and map it in 3D. Neat!

Please check out these resources, even if you won’t have a lot of time to study this particular topic with your class. I learned some neat ways to simplify explanations to make this seemingly complicated topic more manageable and fun. Another important thing I learned is that planning lessons while hungry leads to some creative examples and ideas. The same principle probably applies to the students, so let’s get those hungry students’ creative juices flowing!