• 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. What is the Earth's core mainly made of? (gold / iron and nickel / water / rock and soil) → iron and nickelPrompt: It is metallic and very dense.
2. Earth's structure: which statement is NOT true? (The inner core is solid. / The Earth is hollow. / The crust is made of rock. / The mantle is the thickest layer.) → The Earth is hollow.Prompt: Is the mantle really a sea of liquid?
3. Which is the thinnest layer of the Earth? (the crust / the outer core / the inner core / the mantle) → the crustPrompt: It is like the skin on an apple.

• 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? (all continents are the same size / matching fossils and rock layers on continents far apart / the oceans are salty / 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.
2. Two plates move apart at about 3 cm per year. How far apart will they move in 10 000 years, in kilometres? (1 km = 100 000 cm) → 0.3 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 8 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. Where do most earthquakes and volcanoes happen? (randomly everywhere / only at the North Pole / in the middle of every continent / along the edges of tectonic plates) → along the edges of tectonic platesPrompt: Plates push, pull and slide against each other.
2. Plate tectonics: which statement is NOT true? (The Earth's crust is broken into large pieces called tectonic plates. / Volcanoes only form in hot countries. / Scientists cannot yet predict exactly when an earthquake will happen. / Mountains such as the Himalayas formed where plates collided.) → Volcanoes only form in hot countries.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.