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com/
The continental jigsaw puzzle
Can you reassemble a super-continent from a ‘jigsaw puzzle’?

Introduce the idea that the continents have not climates, such as red desert beds or rocks formed
always been in their present positions by asking in tropical forest environments, etc.).
pupils to look for the apparent match in the Seat the pupils in small groups and then issue the
coastlines of Africa and South America. (If a globe ‘jigsaw puzzles’, copied onto card and cut out
is available, this will reduce any distortion from the from the sheets supplied below. Ask them to
representation of the continents on a flat Atlas reconstruct the supercontinent from their own
page). jigsaw and then to compare notes with their
colleagues nearby.
Ask what evidence pupils would look for which
might demonstrate that the continents once really Ask them if they can think of any alternative
had been together, rather than the match being a explanation for the various lines of evidence,
mere coincidence. (Pupils might suggest: fossils which would not imply that the continents had
of comparable land animals that could not have moved. (A widely accepted explanation before the
swum across an ocean; rocks of the same type 1960s was that the continents had not moved, but
and age that match; fold belts which seem to stop they were formerly linked by lost continental
at the coast, only to appear again on the other masses or by land bridges that had later sunk
side of the intervening ocean; evidence of ancient without trace).
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..……………..
The back up
Title: The continental jigsaw puzzle Underlying principles:
 The continents form parts of larger units
Subtitle: Can you reassemble a super-continent called plates.
from a ‘jigsaw puzzle’?  Continents move, together with adjacent
parts of their plate, over the surface of the
Topic: Using a series of prepared maps of the globe, at rates of a few centimetres per year.
modern day continents to reconstruct the  Plate movement involves the lithosphere (and
supercontinents of the past. not the crust alone) moving over a weak zone
in the upper mantle of the Earth.
Age range of pupils: 14 – 18 years
 Links between the continents were once
explained by proposed land bridges, which
Time needed to complete activity: 20 - 30
later sank: however, the geophysical
minutes for each group to assemble all its jigsaws
evidence shows there are no sunken masses
and to compare notes.
of continental lithosphere.
Pupil learning outcomes: Pupils can:
Thinking skill development:
 search for matching patterns in their jigsaws;
Pupils construct a pattern from the jigsaws, and
 reassemble the former supercontinents from explain their thinking in small groups. Bridging is
their jigsaws; involved in relating the cardboard jigsaw to the
 evaluate the different lines of evidence for real world.
‘continental drift’;
 discuss the relative merits of continental drift Resource list:
theory against the older land bridge  sets of ‘jigsaws’, prepared by copying from
hypothesis. the templates provided onto cardboard and
then cutting them out. (Diagrams may need
Context: This activity allows discussion of enlarging first). Different coloured card can
‘continental drift’ theory, which is now regarded as help sort out any muddles, once the jigsaws
part of the overarching theory of plate tectonics. It are being used!
provides a useful introduction to more technical
aspects of the theory and can be used at all levels Useful links:
of pupils’ attainment. Dudman, C. 2003. Wegener’s Jigsaw (a carefully
researched “novel” on the life of Alfred Wegener)
Following up the activity:
Carry out the activities in the related titles on the Source: Based on the workshop titled “The Earth
plate tectonics theme in the Earthlearningidea and plate tectonics”, Earth Science Education Unit
series, e.g. Magnetic Earth – modelling the (ESEU), © The Earth Science Education Unit:
magnetic field of the Earth; Geobattleships – do http://www.earthscienceeducation.com/ licensed
earthquakes and volcanoes coincide?; Continents under an Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike
in collision – Modelling the processes at a 3.0 Unported Creative Commons licence
destructive plate margin. Carry out a web- based http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/.
search for the work of Alfred Wegener, who laid The activity is based on diagrams originally
the foundations of continental drift theory in the published by the Open University. The diagrams
early years of the 20th Century.

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were redrawn by ESEU and are used with
permission.

The distribution of ancient rocks

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The coastline ‘jigsaw’

The distribution of former ice sheets

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