This exercise challenges students to think about the order of and spacing between the planets in our solar system. Teachers may swap out and complete this exercise by having the students scale the relative size/diameters of the planets. I start by having the students work in groups of four or five and use the length of our classroom as the distance between the Sun and Neptune. Students must discussion and determine where to place a labeled Post-It note on the floor at the approximate relative position of the planet.

This exercise challenges students to think about the order of and spacing between evolutionary events in geologic time. Teachers may swap out and select their own events that are biologic, tectonic, environmental, etc. I start by having the students work in pairs, and I ask them to place the following alphabetical list of "first occurrences" in geologic time in the correct sequential order: dinosaurs, elephants, fish, humans (modern), insects, mammals, plants, reptiles. Then, students share their determinations in groups of four or five.

This is an activity that was modified from PDE's SAS resource portal.  It offers two mini activities, one student investigation and one teaching demonstration, for exploring the movement of convection currents. This lesson is set up to have students use Claim, Evidence and Reasoning to both predict and analyze the investigations.