Plate tectonics features heavily in the museum’s new exhibit about southern hemisphere dinosaurs. With the help of a few pieces of styrofoam left over from other projects, and a template from the USGS, the southern continents are now handy jigsaw puzzle pieces to push together (for Pangea) or pull apart (for the modern world)

Wording from the USGS website:

Although Alfred Wegener was not the first to suggest that continents have moved about the Earth, his presentation of carefully compiled evidence for continental drift inspired decades of scientific debate. Wegener’s evidence, in concert with compelling evidence provided by post World War II technology, eventually led to universal acceptance of the theory of Plate Tectonics in the scientific community.

source for puzzle and lesson plans:

http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/about/edu/dynamicplanet/wegener/index.php

start with some scrap pieces of styrofoam and a serrated steak knife photo source: Lorie Pierce

add the continents - next step is colouring the lifeforms for easy matching photo source: Lorie Pierce

The USGS website also provides information sheets on the lifeforms shown on the continents, a key to the puzzle and an outline children can use to prompt how the pieces fit together.

At the Ultimate Dinosaur event, children will be able to manipulate these pieces while learning about Pangea and then take their own copy of the puzzle pieces home to colour and cut out.