Texas TEKS 7.10

7.10 is a TEKS knowledge and skills statement. These are the student expectations under it.

• 7.10.A

  describe the evidence that supports that Earth has changed over time, including fossil evidence, plate tectonics, and superposition

• 7.10.B

  describe how plate tectonics causes ocean basin formation, earthquakes, mountain building, and volcanic eruptions, including supervolcanoes and hot spots.

01

What Students Need to Do

Students use fossils, rock-layer order, and plate movement to explain how Earth’s surface has changed. They connect plate interactions and hot spots to ocean basins, earthquakes, mountains, volcanoes, and supervolcanoes.

02

What Mastery Looks Like

Given rock layers, fossils, or a plate map, a student identifies the evidence and explains events in a logical sequence. The student distinguishes boundary types and hot spots, then predicts likely landforms and hazards.

03

Common Misconceptions

Students may assume the lowest layer is always oldest, even when layers are folded or overturned. They may think matching fossils mean two rocks formed in the same place. Many place every volcano on a plate boundary and miss hot spots such as Hawaii or Yellowstone.

04

How to Assess It

Use an exit ticket with a fossil-bearing rock column, three plate-boundary sketches, and Yellowstone marked far from a boundary. Ask students to identify the oldest layer, cite evidence of past change, match each boundary to one effect, and explain Yellowstone’s volcanism.

1. 01

   Use graham crackers on frosting to model divergent, convergent, and transform boundaries, then label the landforms and hazards each creates.

2. 02

   Give students fossil and rock-layer cards; ask them to write a claim explaining how the cards show change over time.

3. 03

   Play Plate Boundary Match: teams pair motion cards with ocean basins, earthquakes, mountains, and volcanoes, then defend each match.

4. 04

   Plot recent USGS earthquakes and volcanoes on a map, then classify the Ring of Fire, Hawaii, and Yellowstone by tectonic setting.

• 3.10

  Earth and space. The student knows that there are recognizable processes that change Earth over time. The student is expected to:

• 4.10

  Earth and space. The student knows that there are processes on Earth that create patterns of change. The student is expected to:

• 6.10

  Earth and space. The student understands the rock cycle and the structure of Earth. The student is expected to:

• 5.10

  Earth and space. The student knows that there are recognizable patterns and processes on Earth. The student is expected to: