GondwanaTales

Continental Drift and Plate Tectonics

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Didactic Guide and Publications

This activity is part of the educational C3 Project (Creation of Scientific knowledge) and the Syllabus ABP/IBSE Itinerary ProyectandoBioGeo.

This activity is directed to secondary school 14-18 years old students. As you can see, the site is directed to students, so you can propose them directly the web address to undertake the activity. This is one of the reasons why correct answers are not provided (further explanation in IBSE, in this section below).

A part from the Didactic Guide below, a further description of the application and outputs of the activity is available (in spanish), at: Una secuencia didáctica de modelización, indagación y creación del conocimiento científico en torno a la deriva continental y la tectónica de placas. Revista Eureka sobre Enseñanza y Divulgación de las Ciencias (2015), 12(1), 186-197. J. Domènech

This activity has been presented at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly (2014) in the frame of a GIFT Grant, with the title: Gondwana Tales: an inquiry approach to plate tectonics. Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol. 16, EGU2014-1673, EGU General Assembly, 2014.

The activity has been indexed at the Aplicació de Recursos al Currículum (ARC) from the Departament d'Educació de la Generalitat de Catalunya and the WebQuest Directory from the Comunitat Catalana de WebQuest and has been included as part of the ProyectandoBioGeo science learning activities itinerary.

The activity and its application are also described in the BOOK: Aprenentatge Basat en Projectes, Treballs Pràctics i controvèrsies. 28 experiències i reflexions per a ensenyar Ciències. J. Domènech Casal. Rosa Sensat, Barcelona. / Aprendizaje Basado en Proyectos, Trabajos prácticos y Controversias. 28 experiencias y reflexiones para enseñar Ciencias. J. Domènech. Octaedro, Barcelona.

Other versions of the activity/materials are available at the Ressources section.

Comments and suggestions are welcome. If you add or modify steps from this didactic sequence, please, let me know, your work can be useful for other teachers and students. If you want, I could eventually add your activities as a contribution in this website, together with your name and contact details.

Description

Plate tectonics and its effects on the constitution of seas and continents are key models in science education. Fossil evidences are usually taught in demostrative key when Wegener's discoverings about Pangea are introduced. In order to introduce inquiry-based science education (IBSE) approaches to this topic, we propose "Gondwana Tales", an activity where students are asked to use fossil data to reconstruct the geologic history of an imaginary planet. Grouped in independent teams, each team is furnished with stratigraphic columns from several sites containing faunistic successions of real organisms existing in the past in Earth. Students are told to reconstruct a model of the evolution of the continents, by making calculations of relative ages of the fossils, and relating each fossil to a geologic era. The different teams have incomplete and complementary information. After a first step where they have to propose a partial model based on incomplete data, each team receives a "visitor scientist" from another team, this implying an informal scientific communication event. This process is performed several times, engaging a discussion in each team and getting a final consensus model created by the whole class.

Correct answer is not given to the students, even at the end of the activity, to keep the activity under the parameters of real scientific experience, where there is not a "correct answer" to compare. Instead of this, and following the IBSE standards, a reflection on the process is proposed to students. The lack of complete information and the need to collaborate are part of classroom dynamics focused to the understanding of the process of creation of the scientific knowledge.

This activity is part of the C3 Project on Creation of Scientific Knowledge that is being applied in the school.

Didactic Goals

The didactic sequence dealing with plate tectonics, continental drift, and scientific evidences of such processes, this activity pretends students to:

Indications to Apply the Activity

This activity is to be performed as WPP (Workshop, Project, Portfolio) sequence.

During the Project sessions

Don't explain anything to your students. They will be able to learn it alone. Just let them work, and observe their discussions. You'll have the opportunity to collect the explanations after and from their work. Let them talk between them, even between the different teams. Science is a social process. Scientists don't call it copying or cheating. They call it constructing knowledge, and it usually happens in congresses and seminars. Ask your students to think. Explain them you expect their best.

During the Portfolio sessions

Make them work individually. It would be good to make at least 4, 10-minute-length, sessions of Portfolio. Ask your students to make a real reflection about what are they learning, how are they learning it, and which are the outcomes of the activity.

During the Workshop sessions

Explain them the theoretical and historic aspects listed in the ressources section. Just 15 minutes per session, and don't make explicit the relationship of these theoretical aspects with the project. It's up to the students to make the relationship. This is important, as it makes them practice their ability to transfer models to new situations. It might be that they ask you to make new Workshops on some aspects. Do it, or encourage them to do a Workshop for their mates, but avoid it to touch concret aspects of the project.

Calendar and Class Organization

Project work

Portfolio and Workshop sessions should be inserted in this calendar following the needs and possibilities of the project. You should consider 2 additional hours for portfolio (4 x 10 min sessions) and Workshop sessions (5 x 15 min sessions).

Take in account that there will be changes in the composition of teams from the beginning to the end.

About IBSE (Inquiry-Based Science Education)

Some of the principles of IBSE used to build this site and didactic activity:

Scientists generate scientific theories based on evidence, but they do not find definitive answers. Real science has not a book of "correct answers" where you can contrast if your conclusions are correct. "Correct processes" and "Best explanations" is the most you can get in real science. It's why this activity doesn't offer a "correct answer" of the evolution of the continents' positions and shapes. Of course, the activity has been developed from a concrete evolution, but I'll not share it. It's the best thing I can do for your scientific spirit.

Scientific knowledge and ideas change over time and are open to further revision as our understanding of the world around us evolves. Education doesn't mean to transmit a false feeling of certainty. Education means to teach how to deal with uncertainty, to take decisions and assume risks. Don't confirm them if they have the correct answer or not. In case of misunderstandings, just ask them if their process is correct and their results coherent. Answer with questions to their questions, or help them to make better questions. "Correct solutions" or "Wise teachers" won't be present in their life for ever. Teach them how to arrange without it.

Science is a social and creative activity. Constructing and testing hypothesis, interpreting data from different formats and adjusting an abstract model as a consequence, identifying patterns and establishing relationships, discussing results and justifying conclusions, are key competences that science learning must include as a priority, not only to make them best scientists, but to make them critical citizens.

CLIL/Aicle

This site has been built from a didactic activity performed with Spanish students, and in some steps, linguistic clues are given. I'm yet working on this aspect.