• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (The structure of the Earth). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. Which is the thinnest layer of the Earth? (the mantle / the outer core / the crust / the inner core) → the crustPrompt: It is like the skin on an apple.
2. Earth's structure: which statement is NOT true? (The inner core is solid. / The mantle is the thickest layer. / Temperature increases as you go deeper into the Earth. / The mantle is completely liquid lava.) → The mantle is completely liquid lava.Prompt: Is the mantle really a sea of liquid?
3. Which layer of the Earth is liquid? (all of them / the crust / the inner core / the outer core) → the outer corePrompt: The inner core is solid because of huge pressure.

• Pass round different rocks and ask how each one might have formed.
• Share the objective: Plate tectonics, earthquakes and volcanoes. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: Who first proposed that the continents drift?
• Step 1: Wegener's continental drift (1912) was later explained by plate tectonics.
• Step 2: So the answer is: Alfred Wegener
• Answer: Alfred Wegener
• Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

• Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
• Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.

1. Where do most earthquakes and volcanoes happen? (in the middle of every continent / randomly everywhere / along the edges of tectonic plates / only at the North Pole) → along the edges of tectonic platesPrompt: Plates push, pull and slide against each other.
2. Two plates move apart at about 2.5 cm per year. How far apart will they move in 100 000 years, in kilometres? (1 km = 100 000 cm) → 2.5 kmPrompt: First find the distance in cm.

• Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
• Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 6 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

• Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.

1. Two plates move apart at about 3 cm per year. How far apart will they move in 1 000 years, in kilometres? (1 km = 100 000 cm) → 0.03 kmPrompt: First find the distance in cm.
2. Plate tectonics: which statement is NOT true? (Plates move a few centimetres each year. / The continents have always been where they are now. / The Earth's crust is broken into large pieces called tectonic plates. / Scientists cannot yet predict exactly when an earthquake will happen.) → The continents have always been where they are now.Prompt: How fast do your fingernails grow? Plates move at about that speed.

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/science/grade-7.