Activity pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Constructing an Annotated Periodic Table Created with Interlocking Building Blocks: A National Chemistry Week Outreach Activity for All Ages Thomas S. Kuntzleman,*,† Kristen N. Rohrer,† Bruce W. Baldwin,† Jennifer Kingsley,† Charles L. Schaerer,† Deborah K. Sayers,‡ and Vivian B. West‡ †
Department of Chemistry, Spring Arbor University, Spring Arbor, Michigan 49283, United States Science Department, Hardin Valley Academy, Knoxville, Tennessee 37932, United States
‡
S Supporting Information *
ABSTRACT: An activity for a National Chemistry Week outreach event has been designed in which children construct a periodic table out of LEGO building bricks. During the activity, children followed simple instructions to build the symbol of a particular element onto a 5.25 in. × 5.25 in. LEGO base plate. Squares for all elements were constructed in this manner, resulting in a periodic table composed of over 6000 LEGO pieces. The finished product has been hung on a wall in the science center at Spring Arbor University. The table has unexpectedly become a unique conversation piece that allows for informal chemical education. In addition, high school students and others have added to the charm of the table by designing LEGO creations to place on the squares of certain elements. These LEGO creations are built so as to represent the element on the square on which it is placed. How the table was built, how the construction of the table was used as a hands-on activity at an outreach event, and how people were invited to build LEGO creations to donate to the table are described. KEYWORDS: General Public, Elementary/Middle School Science, High School/Introductory Chemistry, First-Year Undergraduate/General, Public Understanding/Outreach, Periodicity/Periodic Table
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INTRODUCTION LEGO bricks have been a popular children’s toy for decades. Even chemistry teachers are not immune to the allure of LEGO bricks. Chemical educators have used LEGO bricks to teach concepts such as ionic bonding (JCE Classroom Activity 113),1 stoichiometry,2 nanotechnology,3 chemical equilibrium and kinetics,4 surface tension,5 catalysis,6 and note-taking in the laboratory.7,8 In addition, authors have reported using LEGO bricks to build mathematical models,9 a model of an atomic force microscope, 10 and the support structure for an inexpensive spectrophotometer.11 Thus, using these familiar building bricks seems to be an appealing way to motivate studentsyoung and oldto study various concepts in chemistry. We have also found the use of LEGO bricks to be a great way to stimulate interest in chemistry. Working together, high school students, college students, and members of the community surrounding Spring Arbor have built a periodic table of the 114 officially named elements12−15 completely out of LEGO bricks. The finished table, which consists of over 6000 LEGO pieces, has been hung on the wall in our science center (Figure 1). Upon completion of the table, students at Spring Arbor University (SAU), students at Hardin Valley Academy (HVA), and members of the community were invited to build and donate small LEGO creations to place on each element square. People were instructed to build a creation that was in © XXXX American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.
Figure 1. The LEGO periodic table.12,13 Pictured left to right are Jennifer Kingsley, Charles Schaerer, Tom Kuntzleman, and Kristen Rohrer.
some way connected to a particular element. For example, a student from HVA constructed a functional incandescent lightbulb to place on tungsten’s square. All 114 elements on the table have at least one representative LEGO creation. In this article, the process employed to design and build the table is explained. Also, how children (and their parents) in the
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dx.doi.org/10.1021/ed300849k | J. Chem. Educ. XXXX, XXX, XXX−XXX
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Figure 2. Template (left), instruction guide (center), and finished product (right) for gadolinium’s square. Backgrounds were built with thin tan plates, while letters were built with full-height black bricks. From the instruction guide, it can be determined that twenty-three 2 × 4 plates (A), four 1 × 4 plates (B), three 1 × 2 plates (C), four 1 × 1 plates (D), ten 1 × 4 bricks (E), two 1 × 2 bricks (F), and two 1 × 1 bricks (G) were required to build this square. Spreadsheet templates and instruction guides for 114 currently named elements (H through Lv) can be found in the Supporting Information.
children visited the LEGO Periodic Table (LPT) room to build one or more element squares. Several SAU students and faculty were present in this room to maintain crowd control, hand out bags containing instruction guides and LEGO pieces, and assist children who needed help with the building process. The assembled element squares were collected, and after the event, Velcro strips were used to stick the element squares to a wall in SAU’s science center.
community were enlisted to help build the table at SAU’s annual outreach event held during National Chemistry Week (NCW) in 2011 is described. Finally, how people were recruited to build small creations to place on the element squares on the table is described.
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LOGISTICS OF BUILDING THE TABLE The project began by planning to make each element symbol on a 16-stud × 16-stud (5.25 in. × 5.25 in.) LEGO base plate. A template for each element was made using Microsoft Excel, in which each cell in the spreadsheet represented a stud on the LEGO base plate (Figure 2, left). Once templates were designed, they were transformed into specific instruction guides (Figure 2, center) for each specific element.14 Each instruction guide specified the exact sizes, types, and colors of LEGO pieces that would be locked onto each base plate to make each element square. After determining the specific types and colors of bricks and plates needed to make the entire table, all these pieces had to be obtained. At first we thought to ask people to donate bricks to our cause, but this method of obtaining bricks presented too many logistical problems. Instead, individual bricks were purchased. To do so, several days were spent shopping at Brick Link,16 an online site from which LEGO bricks can be purchased quite inexpensively. Ultimately, LEGO parts were purchased from about 15 different sellers at Brick Link in order to obtain all the LEGO pieces needed to build the table. Once all the LEGO bricks arrived in the mail, bricks were organized by pairing each element with its specific set of LEGO bricks. To do so, the element’s instruction guides (as in Figure 2, center) were printed out and placed in separate sandwichsized sealable bags. Next, 30 SAU science students were recruited to help distribute the appropriate LEGO pieces into each element’s bag. After a little over 1 h of work, all the bricks were sorted into their proper element bag, ready to hand to children at SAU’s annual NCW outreach event. SAU’s annual NCW outreach event is called Halloween in the Science Lab. 17 This event consists of a 30-min demonstration show followed by SAU student-run exhibitions of hands-on activities throughout the science building. Each hands-on activity is held in a different classroom or laboratory, and costumed children visit each room as “trick-or-treaters” to participate in hands-on science experiments and receive a small piece of candy. SAU students and faculty also dress up in Halloween costumes. During this event in 2011, at least 200
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ADDING LEGO CREATIONS TO THE TABLE After the LPT had been hanging on the wall for a few weeks, it was decided it might be fun to expand it by placing LEGO creations that somehow represent an element on each element square (Figure 2, right and abstract graphic). At first, SAU students were recruited to build and donate LEGO creations to the LPT. While a few did so, these efforts were largely unsuccessful. Next, colleagues who teach high school were contacted to see whether they would be interested in helping out. One high school teacher (D.K.S.) was looking for chemistry-related activities to do at the end of the year, following the Advanced Placement exams. Having students build LEGO creations based on element properties seemed like a fun, yet educational way to engage students. Thus, students at HVA were given an assignment to create a LEGO character or creation that related to a particular element’s occurrence, properties, use, history, or name. In addition, students were required to prepare and deliver a 3−5 min creative oral presentation on an element, the LEGO creation designed, and how the two were related. The oral presentation was to be in the form of poetry, song, rap, sign or other language, or riddle. The level of interest in this project was surprising. Students wrote haikus and limericks. Some students presented in German, French, Spanish, or Arabic. A few students produced videos. Many HVA students donated their LEGO creations, which were delivered to SAU and subsequently hung on the LPT. Students who donated their LEGO creations wrote a short paragraph explaining how the creation was related to the element square on which it was placed. Working together, HVA and SAU students and faculty, as well as members of the community of Spring Arbor, have built at least one LEGO creation for all 114 elements on the table. Several elements have more than one representative LEGO creation placed upon it. Students and faculty at both HVA and SAU have created a Web site, on which pictures and descriptions of each element B
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square are located. The address and QR code for the Web site18 is displayed next to the LPT to allow viewers to learn about the connection between each representative LEGO creation and the element on which it is placed.
(5) Campbell, D. J.; Andrews, M. J.; Stevenson, K. J. New Nanotech from an Ancient Material: Chemistry Demonstrations Involving Carbon-Based Soot. J. Chem. Educ. 2012, 89, 1280−1287. (6) Horikoshi, R.; Kobayashi, Y.; Kageyama, H. Illustrating Catalysis with Interlocking Building Blocks: Correlation between Structure of a Metallocene Catalyst and the Stereoregularity of Polypropylene. J. Chem. Educ. 2013, 90, 620−622. (7) Pendley, B. D. Keeping a Scientific Notebook: The Lego Exercise. J. Chem. Educ. 1997, 74, 1065. (8) JCE Staff. Putting It All Together: Lab Reports and Legos. J. Chem. Educ. 2001, 78, 1192A. (9) Lemlich, A.; Zinsser, H. H. A Method of Three Dimensional Representation of Three Dimensional Functions. J. Chem. Educ. 1964, 41, 165. (10) Olson, J. A.; Calderon, C. E.; Doolan, P. W.; Mengelt, E. A.; Ellis, A. B.; Lisensky, G. C.; Campbell, D. J. Chemistry with Refrigerator Magnets: From Modeling of Nanoscale Characterization to Composite Fabrication. J. Chem. Educ. 1999, 76, 1205−1211. (11) Albert, D. R.; Todt, M. A.; Davis, H. F. A Low-Cost Quantitative Absorption Spectrophotometer. J. Chem. Educ. 2012, 89, 1432−1435. (12) When the LEGO Periodic Table was first built, the authors were only aware of 112 officially named elements. Squares for the elements livermorium and flevorium were added when the authors became aware that these two elements had been officially named earlier in 2012. (13) Please note a bit of creativity has been employed in the table’s coloring scheme. For example, the background for polonium is colored red to indicate its membership in the chalcogen family. (14) Templates and specific instruction guides for all 114 elements can be found in the Supporting Information. (15) See Jacobsen, E. K. National Chemistry Week 2009: ChemistryIt’s Elemental! JCE Resources for Chemistry and the Periodic Table. J. Chem. Educ. 2009, 86, 1154−1161 and references therein for more JCE resources pertaining to the periodic table. (16) Brick Link: Unofficial LEGO Marketplace. http://www. bricklink.com/ (accessed Aug, 2013). See Supporting Information for more details on how to order LEGO bricks on this site. (17) Kuntzleman, T. S.; Baldwin, B. W. Adventures in Coaching Young Chemists. J. Chem. Educ. 2011, 88, 863−867. (18) LEGO Elements Project. http://sites.arbor.edu/legoelements/ (accessed Aug, 2013). See Supporting Information for the QR code.
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CONCLUSION The LPT has become a delightful talking point and informal learning center at SAU. Nonscience majors, members of SAU’s maintenance crew, students at our summer science camp,17 and visitors to campus have all been seen inspecting the table and its associated creations while passing by. These folks often take the time to ask questions about the elements themselves or the connection between the LEGO creation placed on a particular element square and the element itself. For example, a student at science camp asked why there was a leprechaun with a pot of gold (on the square for Au) on the LPT. Even science majors have been seen discussing why a particular LEGO creation has been placed on a certain element square. Clearly, the conversations inspired by the LPT provide a unique, informal venue for chemical education. If you ever make a trip to the campus of SAU, please come to the top floor of the Whiteman-Gibbs Science Center to check out the LPT. To our knowledge, it is the world’s largest periodic table made entirely out of LEGO bricks. If a visit is not possible, please share with us a few suggestions for LEGO creations to place on your favorite element’s square. Better yet, donate a LEGO creation to place on a certain square. Best of all, build your own LPT and use it to teach folks about chemistry!
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ASSOCIATED CONTENT
* Supporting Information S
LEGO table instruction guides; LEGO table templates; a list of required LEGO pieces (and description of how to order on the Brick Link site); QR code for LEGO Elements Project18 Web site. This material is available via the Internet at http://pubs. acs.org.
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AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
*E-mail:
[email protected]. Notes
The authors declare no competing financial interest.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS We thank the American Chemical Society for an International Year of Chemistry student chapter grant to support this project. Ryan Donahue, Derek Siddel, Sam Yahr, and Erin Wills assisted in designing the LPT Web site. Finally, the reviewers of this article made some fantastic suggestions.
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REFERENCES
(1) Ruddick, K. R.; Parrill, A. L. JCE Classroom Activity #113: An Interlocking Building Block Activity in Writing Formulas of Ionic Compounds. J. Chem. Educ. 2012, 89, 1436−1438. (2) Witzel, J. E. Lego Stoichiometry. J. Chem. Educ. 2002, 79, 352A. (3) Campbell, D. J.; Miller, J. D.; Bannon, S. J.; Obermaier, L. M. An Exploration of the Nanoworld with LEGO Bricks. J. Chem. Educ. 2011, 88, 602−606. (4) Cloonan, C. A.; Nichol, C. A.; Hutchinson, J. S. Understanding Chemical Reaction Kinetics and Equilibrium with Interlocking Building Blocks. J. Chem. Educ. 2011, 88, 1400−1403. C
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