• 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 layer of the Earth is liquid? (the crust / the inner core / all of them / the outer core) → the outer corePrompt: The inner core is solid because of huge pressure.
2. Earth's structure: which statement is NOT true? (The mantle is the thickest layer. / Temperature increases as you go deeper into the Earth. / The crust is the thickest layer. / The inner core is solid.) → The crust is the thickest layer.Prompt: Is the mantle really a sea of liquid?
3. What is the Earth's core mainly made of? (rock and soil / water / gold / iron and nickel) → iron and nickelPrompt: It is metallic and very dense.

• 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. What evidence suggests the continents were once joined? (the same weather on every continent / the oceans are salty / matching fossils and rock layers on continents far apart / all continents are the same size) → matching fossils and rock layers on continents far apartPrompt: The same land reptile fossils are found in Africa and South America.
2. Two plates move apart at about 4 cm per year. How far apart will they move in 1 000 000 years, in kilometres? (1 km = 100 000 cm) → 40 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. Plate tectonics: which statement is NOT true? (The continents have always been where they are now. / Plates move a few centimetres each year. / Mountains such as the Himalayas formed where plates collided. / 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.
2. What evidence suggests the continents were once joined? (matching fossils and rock layers on continents far apart / the oceans are salty / all continents are the same size / the same weather on every continent) → matching fossils and rock layers on continents far apartPrompt: The same land reptile fossils are found in Africa and South America.

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