Plate Tectonics

So why have I been obsessing about Plate Tectonics? I'm a paleontologist in particular I'm an invertebrate paleontologist/paleoecologist. This means that I straddle the fences between Geology and Biology and Ecology. That's a lot of fences but it means that I get to be something of a Natural Historian rather than just a Geologist or whatever. But all my degrees all came from Geology departments and I am at heart a Geologist. Plate Tectonics is the unifying theory of Geology it's what makes everything else make sense. Sort of like Evolution is the unifying theory for Biology and Paleontology, nothing makes sense without it. So I view it as vitally important that I teach PT and teach it well. The problem is that it's complex. It's not hard but it's BIG, and so students have problems with it.
As I think about this I realize that while I view it as a unifying theory I don't teach it as such. Maybe I need to back up and think about how to show students how PT takes a bunch of isolated observations and makes sense of them. This would be really good reinforcement for the concepts we talk about when we discuss the method as well.
Hmmmmmm

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