Continental Drift - Webquest

1. Introduction

Earthquakes and volcanoes can kill people and destroy property. Can we predict where and when these will occur? Some people say they have ideas, but where is the proof?

How do mining companies know where to look for minerals? What if there was a way to tell if there were riches in the ground nearby. If we knew what had happened in the past to the ground around us, perhaps we could tell what we could find underground.

2. Task

Please collect evidence to support your answers to these questions. (Your group may be given one of these areas to research and present to the class). Note that evidence can be what other people have observed. However, any ideas, hypotheses or theories will need to be backed-up with evidence.

  1. Some people have suggested that continents move. Who came up with such an idea? Why did he think this was true? What evidence could be used to support this? I think lots of evidence is needed for such an idea, so give me lots of different evidenc (maps, fossils, where you find rocks etc.). 
  2. Where do volcanoes and earthquakes form? Is there any pattern? Is a hill nearby likely to become a volcano? Why do some countries get lots of earthquakes and volcanoes and others do not get very many? I need to really understand the explanation for this, and I think I need really good evidence for this so that I know how worried I should be.
  3. Some things don't make sense. Like when scientists say that coal forms in swamps, and then I hear they find coal in Antarctica. If there were swamps in Antractica they'd just freeze over. Or when scientists say that tillilte forms in glaciers, yet we find tillite in lots of countries where it doesn't even snow, let alone form glaciers.  (See the Down to Earth: rock back in time resource) (Search for "Down to earth: Rock back in time" on TALE). Please explain in a way that makes senses.
  4. I have heard of patterns in the age of rocks on the sea floor in some parts of the world. They then talked about patterns in magnetic fields in the same rocks. How do such patterns form on the floor of the sea? What is the evidence to support this?
  5. Deep-sea tranches sound like places that can never be visited. I wonder where these treches are? I thought they would be in the middle of the oceans, but then I heard of the Mid-ocean ridges. Is there a pattern to where a deep-sea trech occurs? Are they anywhere near a mid-ocean ridge? Is there any connection? Is there any way we can tell what is happening at these deep-sea trenches? What is the evidence if we they are so deep? Why would a ridge exist in the middle of an ocean? Again, evidence is needed.
  6. A montain is just a mountain isn't it? What differences are there in how these mountain ranges formed: Hymalayas, New Zealand's Mountains, New Guinea's mountains and The Andes. How can we tell how mountains form if we cannot see them forming? The evidence needs to be analysed.

3. Resources

These site should provide most of the information you need to get started. Feel free to look in other locations too.

  1. Dynamic earth - plate tectonics.
  2. Dynamic Earth - plates and boundaries.
  3. Dynamic Earth - Slip Slide and collide.
  4. Vision learning's page on Plate Tectonics 1.
  5. Vision learning's page on Plate Tectonics 2.
  6. Plate Tectonics: The mechanism.
  7. An interactive display on mountains and plates.
  8. A web-site about Volcanoes.
  9. Geology.com has a page about Divergent Plate Boundaries.
  10. Geology.com has a page about Convergent Plate Boundaries.
  11. Down to Earth - Teacher downloaded resources available from TALE (Search for "Down to earth: Rock back in time" on TALE).
  12. Tectonics investigator on magnetic field reversals in mid ocean ridges is available from TALE (Search for "Tectonics investigator: magnetic stripes" on TALE).

4. Process 

Each student in the group should use a different web-site to analyse the evidence. Collect diagrams and descriptions into OneNote and share the OneNote pages with the others in your group. Use what you find out tp present the evidence to the class for your solution to the problems presented. 

5. Evaluation

You will present your findings to the class. The class will then look for whether your group's presentation is convincing. A quiz will then follow on what all the groups have presented. Your presentation can be as a PowerPoint presentation, or any other way to make your point.

This is my first attempt at any kind of web-quest and would like to hear of how you use it, what worked, and what doesn't work in other classes. Note that the teacher should choose which tasks are appropriate for the class.