Periodic table chemistry helper plus#

Working in a PS-12 school (under one roof), I have an unusual opportunity to glean ideas from my colleagues from a variety of subject areas and grade levels. Again, this is a good filler activity, for like 5 minutes at the end of class. If I give the symbol, they have to give the name, and vice versa. Everyone stands up and using my own set of element flash cards I give the first student an element name or symbol. I frequently do an вЂњelement beeвЂќ with my classes, and while I donвЂ™t usually do spelling of the names with this game, of course you could play it that way. Spelling bees are a staple of elementary school, though less commonly in high school. I have included a periodic table for your use in the supporting information below. This is a great filler activity if you have an awkward 15-20 minutes, say before an assembly or early dismissal. You can use any version of the periodic table you like to make the game-I favor one with just the symbols. You can find an explanation of the game here from the Huffington Post. Having fun is one of the best ways to learn, and my students actually like playing this game. (Note: I have not updated these quizzes to include the most recent four elements since I am using Sporcle to create my quizzes now.)ДЇigure 2В - Sample Element Quiz Periodic Table Battleship You can find some sample quizzes in the supporting information below. Following this schedule, students know the vast majority of the elements by the first part of second semester in time to write chemical names and formulas.

Periodic table chemistry helper plus#

Every two weeks, students are quizzed over the next ten elements plus a few elements from earlier on in the year chosen at random. Inspired by this old joke, and my theology teacher next door neighbor who had students learn scripture memory verses, I broke the periodic table into chunks of 10-ish elements. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. I ask students to bring these cards with them to class regularly and as a filler activity will ask them to pull out their flashcards and quiz their lab partner.ДЇigure 1В - Element Flash Cards Cumulative Quizzes Even though there is an ' app for that' as at least one student reminds me every year, the physical act of making the cards has immense value. It may sound simple, but one of the assignments I give the first week of school is to make a set of flashcards by hand. Here are a few of the methods (in no particular order) I have found useful. My students still find chemical nomenclature and writing and balancing chemical equations challenging, but at least they know their alphabet first. However, once I proved that it could be done (I flexed my geeky bravado and recited all the elements from memory) they came around to the idea as a challenge worth accepting. Those first few years, I had significant resistance from students to learning all the elements. I certainly didnвЂ™t want MY students mistaking dilithium, vibranium or unobtanioum for real elements! Early on I considered choosing only certain elements that needed to be memorized but soon decided that any list I would choose would be arbitrary at best and leave my students unexposed to vast swaths of the periodic table. Over the past few years I have tried numerous tactics from making flashcards to having quizzes over progressively larger chunks of elements. I soon realized that asking my students to write and interpret chemical formulas without knowing the symbols for the elements was akin to asking someone to spell words and write sentences without knowing the alphabet. You can probably guess how that worked out, since IвЂ™m writing this. I started my first year teaching in November following a long term sub who had covered atomic structure and bonding-you know, the fundamentals.I decided we could get right to chemical nomenclature and then writing and balancing chemical equations. When I was a new teacher, I might have agreed. You might say thatвЂ™s impossible, a waste of time, or downright unnecessary in todayвЂ™s age of information at your fingertips. I make my junior chemistry students learn the element names and symbols-all one hundred and eighteen of them. I have a confession to make: IвЂ™m a mean teacher.