Create your own periodic table - Journal of Chemical Education (ACS

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DONNABOGNER Wichita State University Wichita. KS 67208

Create Your Own Periodic Table Ellse Hill Levine Pleasamilk High School Romer Avenue Pleasantville, NY 10570 The unit on periodicity in the secondary chemistry curriculum can represent a rather confusing approach to the periodic table during which students have t o memorize trends and graph mysterious numbers that appear on reference tables. Makine this tonic both interestine and somethine other than anexercise i n recall can be ac&mplished if st; dents are asked to svnthesize the conceots that are nresented and create theirbwn periodic tableat the conciusion of this unit. Introducing the periodic tahle from a historical perspective demonstrates the evolution of the weriodic tahle to the form that we currently use. During this presentation, Mendeleev's tahle, its merits and shortcomings, and the periodic law that describes his table are explained as well as the revision of the periodic law and the table t o accommodate Moseley's work. Using some of the innovative periodic table designs published in the Instruments for Research and Industrv. Inc. calendar. mv students are introduced to numerous v&ions of the periodic table including a cubic periodic tahle,' the weriodic nvramid,' the sniral table:' and - oeriodic . the 3 : pe;iodic ~ ta);lk,4 whieh, when assembled, lookalike a luxury hotel! These uniaue desians demonstrate that the elem& can he arranged in tahies of various shapes and with an emphasis on different prooerties of the elements. As a creative activity in which all my students can he successful, unlike an exam, and a follow-up exercise to our study of periodic trends, my students are asked to design an original periodic tahlein which theelements with theatomic numhers 1throueh 103 are oreanized in atable of anv shane. .. any size, and according to any property of their choice. Once their periodic tahle is in its final form, each student must write his or her own periodic law that describes the method of organization of his or her table. This project is graded as a quiz and results in unique interpretations of the periodic table and the properties of the elements that have heen discussed in class. I t also prompts students to use their imagination, their class notes, reference textbooks, and their creative ahilitiesto produceapiece of work that is truly their own. The periodic tables that are submitted are diverse in nature and fun to decipher. When this project was due on a date close t o Valentine's Day, several students designed tables that had a Valentine's Day theme. One of the tables is a large, red and white, heart-shaped table in which the elements are arranged so that the phrase "Would You Be My

Figure I. A peridic "valentine" chan that follows cupid's law

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' me Cement Chemist's Periodic Cube by J. Francis Young, Professor of Civil and Ceramic Engineering. University of Illinois (1982 Instruments for Research and Industry, lnc. Calendar). The Periodic Pyramid by Charles E. Gragg, Burroughs Wellcome Co., Research Triangle Park. North Carolina (1983 Instruments for Research and Industry, lnc. Calendar). Spiral Periodic Chart A Fantasy?by Theodore Benfry, Professor of Chemistry. Guilford College. 3-0 Periodic Chart by David C. Milford (1987 instruments for Research and lndustry, lnc. Calendar).

Figure 2. A mmamic periodic table.

Figure 3. A student submission enlitied "Periodi City." Volume 67 Number 12 December 1990

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Valentine" is displayed using the symbols of the appropriate elements and is surrounded by the remainder of the 103 elements (Fig. 1).The table is entitled "Cupid's Law". Another table tells the story of Joe, a figure that is composed of the symbols for those elements that are metals, and Suzy, a figure that is composed of the symbols that represent the nonmetals (Fig. 2). These figures are attached by a bridge of metalloids, and hovering above them is "Cloud Nine", which is composed of the lanthanoid and actinoid series. Among other tables submitted are the "Periodic Pinwheel", "The Periodic Block", which displays the elements in a threedimensional manner according to electron configuration, and a table in the shape of a multi-scoop ice cream cone in which each scoop represents a different group of elements. One student submitted the "Periodi City" in which each building in this "town" represents each of the groups on the present periodic table (Fig. 3).

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Journal of Chemical Education

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Once all the tables are submitted.. thev are h u m UD in mv classroom so that my students can peruse the work bf the; veers. These tables ~ r o v i d ecolorful additions to the classioom, the catalyst fbr interesting discussions between my students about chemistry(!), and the opportunity for students to create a piece of work that integrates chemical principles with creativity. Acknowledgment

The company, Instruments for Research and Industry, Inc. of Cheltenham. Pennsvlvania ~ublishesthe "Calendar For Scientists"annually, whichcontainsa new versionofthe periodic table: three of these tables are liswd in the References below. The use of these unique periodic tables in the classroom was discussed during a Woodrow Wilson Foundation Chemistry Mini-Workshop that I attended in 1985.