Infographics

Facts about the tectonic plates.
Source:LiveScience

Plate Tectonics

The above infographic is fantastic to provide your students with a snapshot of plate tectonics. Some of the content is a bit advanced for elementary students, but the visual can be really helpful, even for 4th and 5th grade students. You can differentiate your level of instruction by simply describing the image or going more in-depth with the provided vocabulary.

The image starts by showing the different layers of the earth. Then, the next picture shows how plates are moving and the results of this movement. I would not expect my 5th graders to know Athenosphere or Lithosphere, but I would expect them to understand that oceanic crust sliding under continental crust creates volcanoes considering we live in the Pacific Northwest. The next two images show the break-up of Pangea. I like that the image supports continental drift with fossils. That will help students draw connections. Finally, the image ends with a current view of plate boundaries, and it shows earthquakes and volcanoes around the world. I think this infographic would work great as an introduction to a lesson or a way to sum-up a lesson on plate tectonics.

The Threat of a Global Water Shortage

From Visually.

Global Water Footprint

This is a great infographic for teaching 5th grade science. NGSS Standard 5-ESS2-2 states: ​Describe and graph the amounts and percentages of water and fresh water in various reservoirs to provide evidence about the distribution of water on Earth. This infographic would provide an excellent jumping off point for the discussion.

Using this infographic, you can help students understand how water is distributed globally, who is using the most water, how it is being used, and which countries are in the best and worst positions moving forward. Students could use this to choose a specific country or area to study. Perhaps, they could create a similar graphic of their own that was specific to their place of study. These could be compiled together as a class infographic.

This is one of many water infographics on the internet. Depending on your students’ interests, this infographic could serve as a jumping off point for exploring other water infographics.