The big idea, how does the movement of earth’s tectonic plates cause observable changes and effects. I learned and improved my understanding in quite a few ways. One way was when I learn about the movements of the plates, another way was learning about what the tectonic plates are made of. Lastly I learned about what the observable effects are to the world.  

1. The Movement of the Tectonic Plates

      Throughout the whole project I have been learning about the different ways the tectonic plates move. I learned that when two tectonic plates separate it is called divergent, I learned that when two plates hit (and possibly one submerges under the other) it is called convergent. And I learned that when two tectonic plates slide pass each other it is called transverse. We learned all of these different type of plate movement though textbooks, worksheets, and quizzes. If we had not learned these that it would be impossible for us to answer the driving question. 

2. What creates tectonic plates

    What creates tectonic plates. From reading textbooks and researching tectonic plates I have found out a lot about them. I learned that they are made at mid ocean ridges when magma rises up then cools pushing old rock away in order to make room for new rock. I also learned that tectonic plates are made of oceanic and continental crust and that a tectonic plate can be made of only oceanic crust but cannot be made of only continental crust. If i had not learned all of these important facts then I would not understand what creates the natural disasters. 

3. What are the observable changes and effects.

     In order to a to say how the tectonic plates made observable changes I had to learn what the observable changes were. I learned that earthquakes, volcanos, and tsunamis are all created by tectonic plate movement. I learned that an earthquake is created on a transverse plate boundary or on a fault. I also know that a volcano is formed on a convergent or divergent plate boundary, and finally I learned that a tsunami follows after an earthquake. Knowing all of this makes it a lot easier to find the answer to the driving question.

Now that I know all of this I can finally answer the driving question, how does the movement of earth’s tectonic plates cause observable changes and effects. Well tectonic plates are always moving because of mid ocean ridges so every time one of them bump, separate, slide, or build up to much pressure against each other they create disasters. We can see most of these disasters with our eyes or with machines. The sliding against each other creates earthquakes, when the plates converge it creates volcanos. All of these things are observable changes all created by tectonic plate movement. 

Mind Map  

Curricular competences  

1. Evaluation: Demonstrating an understanding and appreciation of evidence. I showed I could do this competency when we did peer critique and when we created our board game. For peer critique we had to read over somebody’s game rules then tell them how they did. I think I did well on this one. I said that the person whom I was critiquing was great but that he needed to help his partner much more.   I also showed this competency when creating my own game. I used plate tectonics as the main focus, I included 10 science concepts, and the game showed tectonic plates. I did this when I printed out a photo of the world’s main tectonic plates. Meaning the whole board is made up of things I learned about. Additionally, I created rules for the game that show my understanding of how plate tectonics work. For example one of the rules is that you can only create an earthquake on a tectonic plate that your plate is connected to. Overall I think I did well on this competency. 

2. Questioning and predicting: Demonstrate a sustained intellectual curiosity about a scientific topic or problem of personal interest. This is the competency that I think I could improve on the most in scimatics. Since I have LAC in the morning and I do most of my work there, when I am in class I have nothing to do. If I do have work to do I usually can’t focus on the task because I had worked on it for 2 hours already. I could improve on this competency. 

3. Understanding and solving: Develop, demonstrate, and apply mathematical understanding through play, inquiry, and problem solving. I showed this competency by including probability on every player’s turn in my board game. For example a player can pick up a card and it could be a helpful card or useless card, this depends on chance. I also showed the competency by putting several probability problems in the game rules this incorporated how to multiply fractions. Lastly I showed this through the worksheets that I completed. Overall I think I did pretty well. 

Tectonic Take Down! Game board