Plate Tectonics and Earthquake Modeling Lab

Students model plate boundaries, date the seafloor, locate an epicenter, compare magnitudes and test buildings.

Grades 6–8Virtual lab · 5 stations1 student per deviceNo student loginsWorks offline

$8Buy Plate Tectonics and Earthquake Modeling Lab ▶ Play the free demo

Try it free: the demo opens the Start page and Station 1 right in your browser. No sign-up needed.

Virtual labs are sold separately and aren’t part of the All-Access licenses.

Screenshot of Plate Tectonics and Earthquake Modeling Lab

Grade level

Grades 6–8: One version for grades 6–8 with five stations and a shake table design task

What students practice

Plate boundary types and landforms, seafloor spreading, magnetic stripes, rates from distance and time, P and S waves, triangulation, magnitude, resonance, engineering design

Standards

NGSS: MS-ESS2-2 · MS-ESS2-3 · MS-ESS3-2 · MS-ETS1-1 · MS-ETS1-3

How it works

Open the game file in any web browser: Chromebooks, laptops or your smartboard. No accounts, no student logins and no internet needed once it's downloaded.
Each student types their name on the Start page, then works through the stations in order. Each station has a prediction, a hands-on activity, a data table or log that fills in as they work and a check question.
Students finish with a printable lab report (print or save as PDF). The Teacher Notes include the standards, a full answer key and a reset button for shared devices.
Each purchase includes the lab file and a one-page Quick Start guide.