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Animated Life: Pangea

Topic

  • Earth Science
  • Earth History
  • Geology

Resource Type

  • Videos
  • Animated Shorts

Level

High School — GeneralHigh School — AP/IBCollege

Duration

00:07:36
Saved By
22 Users
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View in Spanish

Description

This animated short video celebrates the early 20th-century German astronomer and atmospheric scientist Alfred Wegener, who first proposed that continents once formed a single landmass and had drifted apart.

Alfred Wegener proposed the idea of continental drift to explain why continents' shapes fit together like pieces of a puzzle and why distant continents have the same fossils. During Wegener’s time, the idea was met with hostility. But after his death, a large body of evidence showed that continents do indeed move. This evidence led to the theory of plate tectonics, which is a fundamental principle in modern geology.

This short video tells Wegener’s story using animated paper puppets and narrators.

An audio descriptive version of the film is available via our media player.

Key Terms

Alfred Wegener, continent, continental drift, Earth, fossil, landmass, plate tectonics

Terms of Use

Please see the Terms of Use for information on how this resource can be used.

Accessibility Level (WCAG compliance)

PDF files meet criteria. Video files meet criteria. Spanish files meet criteria.

Version History

Date Published 03.19.15
Date Updated 06.15.20

NGSS (2013)

HS-ESS1.C, HS-ESS2.B

AP Biology (2019)

SYI-2

AP Environmental Science (2020)

Topic(s): 4.1

Materials

HD (M4V) 294 MB
HD (WMV) 237 MB
SD (M4V) 64 MB
SD (WMV) 60 MB
Transcript (PDF) 228 KB
Spanish Dub (Español) (MP4) 133 MB
Transcript - Español (PDF) 254 KB

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