Original Project
Plate Tectonics
The earth's plates move very slowly, pressing against one another in some places and pulling apart in other plac…
Item PT025001: Earth's plates move along with the slightly softened rock material below them.
Which of the following is TRUE about the movement of earth’s plates?
- They do not move because they sit on a layer of solid rock.
- They move along with the layer of slightly softened rock below them.
- They move by floating on a layer of completely melted rock below them.
- They do not move until the solid rock layer beneath them temporarily melts and moves.
- Distribution of Responses
- Students Responding Correctly
| Group | Correct | Total | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 552 | 1475 | 37% |
| Grades | |||
| 6–8 | 368 | 971 | 38% |
| 9–12 | 180 | 496 | 36% |
| Gender | |||
| Male | 242 | 698 | 35% |
| Female | 301 | 753 | 40% |
| Primary Language | |||
| English | 485 | 1336 | 36% |
| Other | 48 | 100 | 48% |
- NRC Framework
- ESS2.A The geosphere includes a hot and mostly metallic inner core; a mantle of hot, soft, solid rock; and a crust of rock...
- ESS2.B "...the solid mantle's rocks can bend and even flow."
- ESS2.B The lighter and less dense continents are embedded in heavier and denser upper-mantle rocks, and together they make up the moving tectonic plates of the lithosphere (Earth's solid outer layer, i.e., the crust and upper mantle).