Cheminoes: A Didactic Game To Learn Chemical Relationships

Activity pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc

Cheminoes: A Didactic Game To Learn Chemical Relationships between Valence, Atomic Number, and Symbol Luis F. Moreno,*,†,‡ Gina Hincapié,†,§ and María Victoria Alzate† †

Grupo Metodología de la Enseñanza de la Química MEQ, ‡Grupo de QuímicaFísica Teórica, θ−ϕτ, §Grupo Química de Recursos Energéticos y Medio Ambiente QUIREMA, Instituto de Química, Universidad de Antioquia, A.A. 1226 Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia S Supporting Information *

ABSTRACT: Cheminoes is a didactic game that enables the meaningful learning of some relations between concepts such as chemical element, valence, atomic number, and chemical symbol for the first 36 chemical elements of the periodic system. Among the students who have played the game, their opinions of the activity were positive, considering the game to be a fun way of interacting with the concepts.

KEYWORDS: High School/Introductory Chemistry, Humor/Puzzles/Games, Atomic Properties/Structure, Periodicity/Periodic Table, First-Year Undergraduate/General

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based on one or two features for the first 36 chemical elements of the periodic system. During the game, Cheminoes stimulates questioning and counterquestioning, argumentative answering, and intellectual commitment to understanding chemical meanings.

INTRODUCTION Understanding the structure of the periodic table involves the learning of a set of periodic chemical relationships, with which the students become familiar over time, and is of great importance in higher education, especially for students and professors working in this area. Such periodic relationships nucleate a series of concepts and symbols that make them explicit, such as atomic number (Z), valence (V), oxidation number, chemical element,1 chemical symbol (S), simple and composed substances, and mononuclear and polynuclear molecules. These concepts and the fundamental periodic relationship between Z and V are introduced in chemistry freshman courses in college, provide an opportunity to put some chemical relationships into action in a logical manner, and promote their meaningful learning. One of the ways to achieve a meaningful learning of a broad set of essential information in various areas of chemistry is the use of games and puzzles,2−5 which allows, through a guided, collaborative and fun way, the manipulation of concepts and abstract basic relationships that lead to their learning and relearning and to initiate a deeper understanding of their meanings and complexities. Games like those proposed by Sevcik (2008),6 Tejada and Palacios (1995),7 Franco et al. (2012),8 and Kavak (2012)9 lead to a stimulating didactic game with cards centered in the periodic table, with the aim of motivate the understanding of chemical classification and periodic chemical relationships. Cheminoes is a didactic game that enables the meaningful learning of some relations between concepts such as chemical element,10,11 atomic number (Z), valence (V), and chemical symbol (S) in order to build a sequence of nonidentical relations © XXXX American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.

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CONCEPTUAL BASIS A conceptualization of the periodic table is applied in terms of a cross relation between valence and atomic number, as the variables organizers of the relation group−period. Atomic number as a variable that increases one by one proton along the period and 2−8−8−18−18−32 protons, for example, in group IA. Chemical valence is an expression of chemistry affinity between atoms and explicit qualitative and quantitative relationships. Qualitative refers to a kind of atoms combined and quantitative refers to number of times the same kind of atoms in the chemical interaction. The magnitude of the valence is assigned according to the classical model of the periodic table, that is, express the groups using the valence in Romans and letters A and B. The concept of chemical valence is emphasized in terms of the classification suggested by Nelson (1997).12 The authors distinguish three kinds of valency: primary or classical, coordinate, and nonclassical. We identify the primary or classical valence in terms of the designation of groups I to VIII, extend it to identify the progress in chemistry considering a diversity of oxidation numbers along the same group in the periodic table, and assume plurality of valences for a given element by defining the absolute value of oxidation number as a chemical valence.

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types of information: Z−V, S−Z and S−V, leaving implicit the chemical names. Each color is related with one concept, violet to atomic number Z, green to valence V, and red to chemical symbol S. The whole deck of cards of the game and solution are available in the Supporting Information.

In this manner, a series of valences could be located in the same group. In the game Cheminoes, classical valence is adopted as the magnitude of the number of the group and there is room for flexibility, at least conceptually, for nonabsolutism and for the recognition of diversity and plurality in chemical combination.

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GAME DYNAMICS The dynamic of the game focuses on getting the relationships between Z, V, and S into action, as shown in Figure 2. The game allows between two (2) and seven (7) players. To start a hand, seven (7) cards are dealt out to each player. The player having the card with the lowest Z starts the game. The second player, by associating one of the three concepts (Z, V, and S), tries to find a card that matches one of the ends of the first card, establishing the relations Z−V, S−V, or S−Z, as indicated in Figure 2. The identical relationships are forbidden, that is, V−V, S−S, Z−Z indicated in Figure 3.

GAME DESCRIPTION

The deck consists of a set of 108 cards (2 × 1 in.) of three different classes presented in Figure 1. Each class presents two

Figure 1. General structure of the three types of cards.

Figure 3. Example of forbidden relationships.

A player who has no matching cards must draw the top card from the deck and skip his or her turn. If a player has two cards that could be played at the same time placing them at the two ends, it can be done at the given turn. If a player plays a card and another player suspects that there is not a correct S−V, Z−V, or S−Z relationship, he/she can then call “Gotcha” and the professor must clarify the situation. If it is true, the offending player (player 1) must pick up his card and draw two more from the deck; if it is not, it is the accuser (player 2) who has to draw two cards from the deck. If no cards are available, the offending player must borrow one card from the other player. The first player to play all his/her cards is the winner.

Figure 2. Example of the organization with the correct relationships. B

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GAME OPTIONS

game; the dynamic and the long format of the periodic table with the aim of identify cross-relationships between periods and groups. Afterward, the students, organized in six-member groups, started the game. During the game, the difficulty to establish relations among the three concepts, valence, atomic number, and symbol is evident. Difficulty manifested by the tendency to respond with a unique variable and the long exploration to position a card in the game that led to one of the relations (S−V, Z−V, S−Z). This phenomenon engages students to manipulate a significant reading of the periodic table in search of one of the characteristics and relations in the game. Reading the group, period, variables Z, V, and S, and the way they change along the periodic table, is a constant that forces students to abandon the insistence idea on specific or linear relationships and led to establish cross-relations such as Z vs V. During the activity, the game structure restricts to a constant reading of the long format of the periodic table, which requires a return to the meanings to change forbidden relations and express them again in a correct way. Also, during the activity, it was evident that there was a high interest and motivation to overcome difficulties and inaccuracies, to work collaboratively, and to find, through the game, a new way of interacting with the concepts and relations between chemical valence, atomic number, and symbol. At the end of the game, the Professor proposed a survey about the experience, which consists of five questions and is an expression of the attitudes and positive perceptions toward learning, developed by students during the activity (Table 1).

Rookie Players

If the group of players has no experience with reading and identifying the information contained in the periodic table, provide them with a long format of the periodic table.13 Based on the format, students will learn to read the information and, most importantly, visualize and establish relations between chemical symbol, atomic number, valence, group, and period. The structure of the game conditions its development to a permanent, meaningful reading of the periodic table format, which requires to frequently return to the meanings in order to revaluate the concepts, ask questions, restructure inappropriate relationships, and pose them in a correct way. Intermediate Students

The game also allows intermediate students to question themselves and strengthen their concepts as well as to create new relationships between them. For this kind of players it is recommended to use a long format of the periodic table with no information (Figure 4) in order to allow the writing of relevant

Figure 4. Blank long format of the periodic table.

Table 1. Students’ Opinions about the Cheminoes Game information on either known or new origin, acquired during the game when one of the players, by placing the cards, establishes new relationships that can be unknown but useful for the development of the game (symbol, group, period, valence, atomic number, among others). This will encourage collaborative learning.

Questions

Percentage

Is the game fun? Do you think that it is possible to learn new relationships between valence, atomic number, and symbol playing Cheminoes? What degree of difficulty do you assign to Cheminoes? Would you consider meeting up with your friends in your free time to play Cheminoes? Would you consider inviting some of your classmates to interact and play Cheminoes?

Advanced Students and Professors

The game tends to grow more interesting with advanced students. Given that its cognitive structure activates relationships and logical deductions through the periodic properties during the progress of the game, it is here where the ingenuity of the players becomes important. The game stimulates a mental structure of the periodic table with a large number of periodic relationships, symbols, names, atomic numbers, and valences. For this game in particular, any format of the periodic table should not be allowed to be seen in the classroom.

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Yes 100% Yes, 100%

No 0% No, 0%

High, 16%

Medium, 76%

Yes, 100%

No, 0%

Yes, 92%

No, 8%

Low, 8%

ASSOCIATED CONTENT

S Supporting Information *

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The whole deck of cards of the game is available. This material is available via the Internet at http://pubs.acs.org.

PUZZLE IN THE CLASSROOM The development of this type of classroom activities allows students, through an appropriate educational planning for each class of participants of the game, to investigate and identify their preconceptions and cognitive progress of the concepts involved and of the procedures used for reasoning. Therefore, professors are able to prepare activities that enable students to oppose and differentiate their previous ideas from the new ones presented throughout the game as well as to consolidate new meanings.

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AUTHOR INFORMATION

Corresponding Author

*L. Moreno. E-mail: [email protected], lfma04@ matematicas.udea.edu.co. Notes

The authors declare no competing financial interest.

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ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATIONAL VALUE Cheminoes was put into action with a group of 22 second-year chemistry students (19 to 21 years old). The activity was led by a Professor with the presentation of the conceptual basis of the

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We would like to thank Andrei David Serna, Roberto Muñoz, Ana Maria Restrepo, and the chemistry students for their help in the preparation of this game. C

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REFERENCES

(1) Myers, R. J. What Are Elements and Compounds? J. Chem. Educ. 2012, 89, 832. (2) Follows, D. A. Versatile Puzzle for Use as a Teaching Aid in Organic Chemistry at Secondary School. J. Chem. Educ. 2010, 87 (4), 405. (3) Crute, T. D. Classroom Nomenclature GamesBINGO. J. Chem. Educ. 2000, 77 (4), 481. (4) Kelkar, V. D. Find the Symbols of Elements Using a Letter Matrix Puzzle. J. Chem. Educ. 2003, 80 (4), 411. (5) Kelkar, V. D. Letter Matrix Puzzle on the Symbols of Elements. J. Chem. Educ. 2002, 79 (4), 456. (6) Sevcik, R. S.; Hicks, O.; Schultz, L. D.; Alexander, S. V. Elements A Card Game of Chemical Names and Symbols. J. Chem. Educ. 2008, 85 (4), 514. (7) Tejada, S.; Palacios, J. Chemical Elements Bingo. J. Chem. Educ. 1995, 72 (12), 1115. (8) Franco, A.; Oliva, J.; Bernal, S. An Educational Card Came for Learning Families of Chemicals Elements. J. Chem. Educ. 2012, 89 (4), 1044. (9) Kavak, N. ChemPoker. J. Chem. Educ. 2012, 89 (1), 522. (10) Gray, T. W. The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe; Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers: New York, 2009. (11) Emsley, J. The Elements; Oxford University Press Inc.: New York, 1991. (12) Nelson, G. P. Valency. J. Chem. Educ. 1997, 74 (4), 465. (13) Karol, P. J. The Mendeleev−Seaborg Periodic Table: Through Z = 1138 and Beyond. J. Chem. Educ. 2002, 79 (1), 60.

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