Chemistry: Coding the Periodic Table

Overview: For my project, I wanted to figure out a way to teach my students about how the periodic table is organized and how it can be used as a model to determine number of valence electrons, and therefore the reactivity of certain elements. In order to do this, I drew a periodic table, and at the bottom of the table, there were four tasks that I asked the students to do with the circuit to show the number of electrons in different groups (vertical columns) of the periodic table. The first two tasks were, "make the circuit blink for the number of times to correspond to the number of valence electrons for elements in group one and group sixteen." The outcomes for the coding for this would result in the circuit blinking once for group one (one valence electron), and six times for group sixteen (six valence electrons). The next two tasks were "make the circuit play a sound for every valence elecron that is present in group three and group eighteen on the periodic table." This would result in three sounds for the elements in group three (three valence electrons) and eight sounds for the elements in group eighteen (eight valence electrons). Once the students got more comfortable with the layout and format of the periodic table, they would understand how they could use the group number to figure out the number of valence electrons in an element. This was the goal of this particular project, to help the students get more comfortable with using the periodic table and helping them to see how it is organized.  

Grade Level: 9-12

Content Area: Chemistry

Learning Objectives:

• Students will understand that the group number that an element is in on the periodic table corresponds with the number of valence electrons in an element.

• Students will ultimately be able to determine reactivity of an element based on the group  and the period that it is in on the periodic table.

• Students will be able to determine whether or not a reaction will occur between multiple elements based on where the elements are located on the periodic table.

Standard: Use the periodic table as a model to predict the relative properties of elements based on the patterns of electrons in the outermost energy level of atoms HS-PS1-1. NGSS Identifier

Supplies and Materials:

• Circuit playground

• USB Cord 

• Chromebook 

• Periodic table for reference

The Coding Process and the Outcome: