Continental Drift - persuasive speeches

Students in my class had struggled to grasp continental drift, so I themed the lesson around writing to persuade. Each table was given evidence for continental drift, and together they ranked the pieces of evidence from most to least persuasive. . Students then had to write a letter to their favourite celebrity using the writing frame, explaining why the celebrity should become an ambassador for Wegener's theory. They loved this part! The letters were assessed by me, both for scientific content and for how many of the persuasive techniques they had used.