Tectonic plates are large, rigid pieces of the Earth'slithosphere that move and interact with each other. There are several major plates, such as the Pacific Plate, North American Plate, Eurasian Plate, and African Plate, as well as numerous smaller plates.
The student develops an understanding of the processes of science by asking questions, predicting, observing, describing, measuring, classifying, making generalizations, inferring and communicating.