Amplify Plate Motion

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Plate Motion
Lesson 3.4: Writing About
Mesosaurus

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Warm-Up

10 MIN

Plate Motion: Lesson 3.4

Activity 1

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Activity 1

Plate Motion: Lesson 3.4

Investigation Notebook pg 96

Open Ended

What information about the plate boundary
between South America and Africa helped you recreate what happened to the fossils in the Sim?

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Examining Evidence
About Plate Motion

10 MIN

Plate Motion: Lesson 3.4

Activity 2

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Activity 2 - Screen 1

Plate Motion: Lesson 3.4

Chapter 3 Question

How did the Mesosaurus fossils on the South
American Plate and African Plate get so far
apart?

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Plate Motion: Lesson 3.4

We have learned more about how Earth’s
plates move. Evidence of geologic events
and landforms helped us identify that the
plate boundary we’re looking at is divergent.

Now we’ll consider all our evidence to answer
the Chapter 3 Question and explain how the
Mesosaurus fossils got separated.

Activity 2 - Screen 1

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Plate Motion: Lesson 3.4

These are the two claims
you’ll be addressing and
writing about at the end
of the lesson.

Plate Motion Claims

Claim 1: The South American Plate and
African Plate moved apart suddenly.

Claim 2: The South American Plate and
African Plate moved apart gradually.

Activity 2 - Screen 1

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Investigation Notebook pg 97

Plate Motion: Lesson 3.4

Before we begin writing
our scientific arguments,
we’ll review the evidence
we have collected about
plate motion, and record
any notes that help us
better understand the
evidence.

Activity 2 - Screen 1

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Activity 2 - Screen 1

Plate Motion: Lesson 3.4

Investigation Notebook pg 97

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© The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

Activity 2 - Screen 2

Plate Motion: Lesson 3.4

Remember, all the
Mesosaurus lived about
300 million years ago,
and the entire population
once lived in the same
place.

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Plate Motion: Lesson 3.4

Mesosaurus fossils are
now located on different
continents and are
separated by an ocean.

Activity 2 - Screen 2

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Plate Motion: Lesson 3.4

Let’s review Evidence Card D.

Investigation Notebook pg 98

How do you think this
additional evidence is
connected to the claims
about past plate motion?

Activity 2 - Screen 2

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Plate Motion: Lesson 3.4

Remember, rate is how
often or fast something
happens. In a year, these
plates move about 3 cm
apart at the boundary.
3 cm per year converts
to a rate of 30 km per
1 million years.

Activity 2 - Screen 2

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If the plates move away
from each other at a rate
of 30 km per 1 million
years, how long would it
take for them to travel
4,000 km?

Plate Motion: Lesson 3.4

Activity 2 - Screen 2

Math Response

If the plates move away
from each other at a rate
of 30 km per 1 million
years, how long would it
take for them to travel
4,000 km?

Type answer here

Correct Answer: 133.33

Deg^°

Rad

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Plate Motion: Lesson 3.4

Mesosaurus fossils are the remains of
organisms that lived together when these
continents were parts of one giant
supercontinent. In the first lesson of this unit,
we read: “The earliest fossil evidence for
these animals indicates that they were alive
about 300 million years ago, and their species
went extinct about 260 million years ago.”

Activity 2 - Screen 2

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Plate Motion: Lesson 3.4

We just calculated how
long it would take for the
plates to separate 4,000
km, which is how far
apart they are now. We
also looked at how long
ago the Mesosaurus lived
and died out.

Activity 2 - Screen 2

Open Ended

Has enough time passed for the Mesosaurus fossils to be separated as far as they are now? Why or why not?

Open Ended

What ideas do you have about the evidence on Evidence Card D?

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Reasoning About Plate
Motion

25 MIN

Plate Motion: Lesson 3.4

Activity 3

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Activity 3

Plate Motion: Lesson 3.4

Remember, you will be writing a scientific
argument for Dr. Moraga. This will allow the
Museum of West Namibia to know which claim
should be used to present the geologic history
of the Mesosaurus fossils to museum visitors.

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Activity 3

Plate Motion: Lesson 3.4

You will use the
Reasoning Tool to help
you prepare your
scientific argument for
Dr. Moraga. This tool will
help you connect the
evidence to one of the
claims.

Plate Motion Claims

Claim 1: The South American Plate and
African Plate moved apart suddenly.

Claim 2: The South American Plate and
African Plate moved apart gradually.

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Activity 3

Plate Motion: Lesson 3.4

Reasoning is the
process of making clear
how your evidence
supports your claim.

It is an important
practice of science.

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Activity 3

Plate Motion: Lesson 3.4

The process of reasoning
can be challenging.
Showing how evidence
supports or goes against
a claim is not always
easy to do, but it
strengthens a scientific
argument or explanation.

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Next, I’ll show how to
use the Reasoning Tool
to connect the evidence
you’ve collected to one of
the claims.

The evidence has already
been recorded for you.

Activity 3

Plate Motion: Lesson 3.4

Investigation Notebook pg 99

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To start, you’ll choose
one of the claims to
support. I will choose
Claim 2, which states
that the South American
Plate and African Plate
moved apart gradually.

Activity 3

Plate Motion: Lesson 3.4

Investigation Notebook pg 99

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In the last column,
you’ll add your claim.

In the middle column,
you’ll record your
thinking about how
each piece of evidence
connects to the claim.

Activity 3

Plate Motion: Lesson 3.4

Investigation Notebook pg 99

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Then, you’ll choose a
piece of evidence and
demonstrate how it
supports the claim.

Activity 3

Plate Motion: Lesson 3.4

Investigation Notebook pg 99

© The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

Activity 3

Plate Motion: Lesson 3.4

Investigation Notebook pg 99

© The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

Activity 3

Plate Motion: Lesson 3.4

Let’s discuss how Claim 2 connects with our
Investigation Question:

Investigation Question:
What evidence do we have of past plate motion?

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Activity 3

Plate Motion: Lesson 3.4

In the first lesson of this unit, we were
introduced to a real-life scientist, Dr. Wilson,
who works at the University of Michigan.

Now that you’ve learned so much about plate
motion, you’re ready to learn more about how
Dr. Wilson’s research connects to plate
motion.

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Activity 3

Plate Motion: Lesson 3.4

How does Dr. Wilson’s
research connect to the
claims you are making
about how the
Mesosaurus fossils got
separated?

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Activity 3

Let’s review the instructions for the scientific
argument you will be writing for Dr. Moraga.

● You’ll use the notes you recorded about
the evidence and your completed
Reasoning Tool to help you.
● You can use vocabulary words listed in
the Word Bank.

Plate Motion: Lesson 3.4

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Scientific Argumentation

Open Ended

Question: How did the Mesosaurus fossils on the South American Plate and African Plate get so far apart?

• Claim 1: The South American Plate and African Plate moved apart suddenly.

• Claim 2: The South American Plate and African Plate moved apart gradually.

WORD BANK

plate / plate boundary / rate / convergent / divergent / pattern