Alfred Wegener: Uncovering Plate Tectonics

Alfred Wegener Uncovering Plate Tectonics is an expository nonfiction text about meteorologist and astronomer Alfred Wegener. It covers topics such as Wegener becoming a scientist, Earth’s continents, proving his theory, and his theory now. The text includes a section on geophysicist Mar Lou Zoback. Readers gain information from text and graphics. Multiple scientists and their work are highlighted in the text. A two-page experiment written in third person procedural language invites students to drill core samples from an egg to see what it looks like inside just like geologist try with the Earth.

Alfred Wegener Uncovering Plate Tectonics is divided into sections with some subsections. A range of illustrations are used which add information and support the reader’s interpretation of the text, including labeled photos and maps. Many fact boxes and sidebars are used to provide students with additional learning opportunities. Periods, commas, quotation marks, and question marks are used. A table of contents, a glossary, and an index support the reader.

Sentences structures and lengths vary with a wide variety of parts of speech. A full range of plurals and compound words are used. Sentences contain connectives, possessives, contractions, prepositional phrases, and verbs with inflection endings. Glossary words are bold faced throughout the text. Some words appear in the vocabulary of mature language users.

This title is from the Science Readers series from Teacher Created Materials. Build literacy skills and science content knowledge with high-interest, appropriately levelled information texts.