Activity pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
An Educational Card Game for Learning Families of Chemical Elements Antonio Joaquín Franco Mariscal,*,† José María Oliva Martínez,‡ and Serafín Bernal Márquez§ †
IES Juan Ramón Jiménez, Málaga, Spain Departamento de Didáctica, Á rea de Didáctica de las Ciencias Experimentales, and §Departamento de Ciencia de los Materiales e Ingeniería Metalúrgica y Química Inorgánica, Universidad de Cádiz, Puerto Real, Cádiz, Spain
‡
S Supporting Information *
ABSTRACT: This paper describes an educational card game designed to help high school students (grade 10, 15−16 years old) understand, as opposed to memorize, the periodic table. The game may also be used to identify different chemical elements found in daily life objects. As an additional value, students learn the names and symbols of the displayed elements and may recognize typical compounds formed by them. The game is well received by students and engages them more intensely and for a longer period than the other activities with which it is compared.
KEYWORDS: First-Year Undergraduate/General, High School/Introductory Chemistry, Physical Chemistry, Collaborative/Cooperative Learning, Humor/Puzzles/Games, Nomenclature/Units/Symbols, Periodicity/Periodic Table, Student-Centered Learning
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names of the chemical elements and the cards in the second deck have the corresponding elemental symbols. Granath and Russell6 developed the “Old Prof” card game, a cross between “Old Maid” and “Go Fish” games. In this game, 24 pairs of cards contain the symbols of the most common elements and one old prof card. The goal is to obtain both cards of pair and lay them down, if the element is named correctly. In the case of “Elementeo”,8 elements have their own personality and fight against each other by using their properties and oxidation states. In another game, “Chemundo”,9 students learn the basics of inorganic chemistry, the names of important chemical elements, their symbols, the names of chemical components, and the composition of salts, ions, and their nomenclature. The rules are similar to Rummy, Poker, or Mao. We present a new card game about the chemical elements entitled “Families of Chemical Elements Game”. It is designed for high school students (15−16 years old) and its main goal is the recognition of the group or family structure of the periodic table of elements. In addition, it can help students learn the names and symbols of the displayed elements and recognize typical compounds formed by them.
here is increasing interest in the development of creative educational materials that augment the traditional lecture format. The goals of these new materials are to engage students in interactive learning, to enhance their critical-thinking skills, and to improve their problem-solving skills in a small-group discussion format. Several authors have developed educational games or puzzles aimed at helping students to learn, understand, and apply basic chemical concepts in a challenging, interactive format.1−4 As discussed by Costa,5 these tools stimulate students’ participation and have a positive effect on the development of collaborative skills. Cards constitute one type of educational game successfully used to teach chemistry. Review of the literature shows the use of cards games to teach the periodic table of the chemical elements,6−9 to illustrate applications of the scientific method,10 and to help students to learn about certain aspects of organic chemistry,5,9,11,12 such as the recognition and identification of organic functional groups11,12 or the stereochemistry of carbohydrates.5 Three educational card games dealing with the periodic table are briefly described: the “Elements”,7 the “Old Prof”,6 and “Elementeo”.8 Sevcik et al.7 developed “Elements”, a competitive card game used to correlate the names and symbols of the most significant chemical elements. Students prepare two decks; the cards in one deck have the © 2012 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.
Published: April 24, 2012 1044
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Activity
GAME DESCRIPTION AND EDUCATIONAL GOALS “Families of Chemical Elements Game” is an educational card game depicting the different chemical elements of the maingroup families in the periodic table. The game is played with 43 student-made cards and one or two jokers, depending of the number of players. Although four players is recommended, the game may be played by three or five players. The goal of the game is to collect complete main-group families of the elements, that is, families 1, 2, 13−18. The educational aims for the students are • To recognize the names and the symbols of the chemical elements. • To recognize and correlate the elements and the different families of the periodic table. • To know that the periodic table is divided in 18 families of chemical elements. • To know that the elements in the same family have similar properties. • To identify the chemical elements present in objects of our daily life. A typical game takes 15−20 min.
Figure 1. Chemistry students playing to the card game in the high school.
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RULES OF THE GAME The game combines features of “Gin Rummy” and “Go Fish”. The rules are described below. • The dealer shuffles the cards and all the cards in the deck are dealt. If the number of players is four, one joker is added to the deck. However, if the number of students is three or five, two jokers are added to the deck. • The player to the dealer’s left begins. The player whose turn it is, asks another player for a specific card. The asker must already hold at least one card of the same family and must show it to the others players. For example: “I have potassium, do you have lithium?” • If the asked player has the card, he or she must give it to the requester. Then, the requester can continue to ask the same or another player for a new card. If the asked player does not have the card, the turn passes to the following player. • The play continues around the students to the left (clockwise) until no families are separated among different players. • Completed families are placed face up in front of the owner. • The joker may be used to complete a family of elements. If so, the card left over from the corresponding family is removed and the game continues. • When all families are completed, the player with the highest number of cards set down in front of them in their completed families wins. Students compete against their classmates and the scores are determined by their ability to gather the chemical elements belonging to a family (Figure 1). Two points are counted for each chemical element of the completed family.
Figure 2. Some card images for the “Families of Chemical Elements Game”.
life in which the element is found. For elements without common daily life objects such as francium, radium, polonium, or astatine, students draw the symbol of radioactivity, thus, stressing their nuclear instability. Students can identify the different families of elements by means of the color of the card frames or the element name. Three examples of the cards designed by the students are shown in Figure 2. Common table salt, toothpaste, and an incandescent lamp were used as representative objects in which sodium, fluorine, and argon, respectively, may be found. Students also create two joker cards. Students learn about the elements when they design and draw the cards.
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ASSESSMENT OF THE EDUCATIONAL VALUE The game was evaluated by a sample trial of 38 10th grade (15−16 years old) students from a rural high school. The card game was designed to help students memorize the chemical symbols of the elements and recognize the family structure of the periodic table. The game was played after the lesson discussing the chemical elements and the periodic table. To increase the students’ motivation, other educational games and recreational activities were also used throughout the lesson. Among them, a card game illustrating the octet rule,13 a puzzle aimed at improving the students’ skill in naming the chemical elements,14 a simulation game of the Soccer World Cup using chemistry questions,15 a computer Tetris game based on the symbols of the elements, and a bingo game to learn about the structure of atoms16 were also included. The design of a mural, the design of a model showing the De Chancourtois’ telluric
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CREATION OF THE CARDS Before playing the game, students design their own deck of cards on cardstock as classroom activity. The card of each family has a common frame color, for example, a pink frame for family 1 (Figure 2). Each card must contain the name and the symbol of the chemical element as well as an object from daily 1045
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screw,17 a practical work allowing the evaluation of the electronic conductivity of certain elements,18 and the recognition of the presence of certain chemical elements in pictures of the daily life19 were additional activities developed by the students. To assess the students’ memorization of chemical symbols and the periodic table, a written exercise was included at the end of the lesson. The question included in this exercise was “Write the elements corresponding to the family of chlorine.” Two-thirds of the students were able to cite “all” or “all but one” of the elements of the group correctly, thus, indicating that a significant level of memorization had been achieved. The students’ perceptions of the “Families of Chemical Element Game” relative to the other games and recreational activities used in the lesson were also evaluated. This card game obtained the highest score (8.8 on a scale of 0 to 10) among all the proposed games and recreational activities (Table 1).
Game
Score 8.8 8.7 8.5 8.5 8.4 8.3 7.3 7.2 6.1
*E-mail:
[email protected]. Notes
The authors declare no competing financial interest.
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REFERENCES
(1) Russell, J. V. J. Chem. Educ. 1999, 76 (4), 487. (2) Tejada, S.; Palacios, J. J. Chem. Educ. 1995, 72 (12), 1115−1116. (3) Franco, A. J. J. Chem. Educ. 2008, 85 (10), 1370−1371. (4) Franco, A. J.; Cano, M. J. J. Chem. Educ. 2011, 88 (11), 1551− 1552. (5) Costa, M. J. J. Chem. Educ. 2007, 84 (6), 977−978. (6) Granath, P. L.; Russell, J. V. J. Chem. Educ. 1999, 76 (4), 485− 486. (7) Sevcik, R. S.; Hicks, O.; Schultz, L. D.; Alexander, S. V. J. Chem. Educ. 2008, 85 (4), 514−515. (8) Elementeo Chemistry Card Game. http://www.elementeo.com/ (accessed Apr 2012). (9) Chemundo Home Page. http://www.eduris.de/chemundo-neue_ auflage_feb2009.htm (accessed Apr 2012). (10) Ziegler, G. R. J. Chem. Educ. 1974, 532. (11) Welsh, M. J. J. Chem. Educ. 2003, 80 (4), 426. (12) Eglinton, G.; Maxwell, J. R. Educ. Chem. 1971, 8 (4), 142−144. (13) Franco, A. J.; Oliva, J. M.; Bernal, S. To be submitted for publication. ́ 2008, 19 (1), 56−65. (14) Franco, A. J. Educ. Quim. (15) Franco, A. J. Aula Innov. Educ. 2006, 156, 87−96. (16) Franco, A. J. Alamb. Didác. Cienc. Exp. 2006, 50, 116−122. (17) Béguyer De Chancourtois, A. E. C. R. Acad. Sci. 1862, 54, 757− 761, 840−843, 967−971. (18) UNESCO. New UNESCO Source Book for Science Teaching; United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization: Paris, 1973. (19) Franco, A. J. Alamb. Didác. Cienc. Exp. 2007, 51, 98−105. (20) Yager, R. E. Sci. Teacher 1991, 58 (6), 52−57. (21) Orlik, Y. Chapter 10, Modern organization of classes and extraclass work in Chemistry. In Chemistry: Active Methods of Teaching and Learning; Iberoamerica Publ.: Mexico, 2002. (22) Vygotsky, L. S. Play and Its Role in the Mental Development of the Child. In Soviet Developmental Psychology, An Anthology; Cole, M., Ed.; M.E.Sharp: White Plains, NY, 1977; pp 76−99. (23) Piaget, J. Inhelder, B. The Psychology of the Child; Basic Books: New York, 1969. (24) Piaget, J. La formation du symbole chez l’enfant: imitation, jeu et rêve, image et representation; Delachaux et Niestlé: Paris, 1970. (25) Bruner, J. Peab. J. Educ. 1983, 60 (3), 60−69.
Students noted the simplicity of the rules and the attractiveness of the “Families of Chemical Element Game” as two of its key virtues. Specifically, 48% of the students said this game was the simplest of all the games introduced, and 42% of them considered it as the most enjoyable of all of the activities in the lesson.
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CONCLUSIONS The “Families of Chemical Elements Game” successfully engaged and motivated students with an initial weak background and low interest in chemistry.20,21 The game provided an enjoyable way for groups of four students to work together to learn the names and symbols of the chemical elements, the periodic table, and the objects of their daily life in which the different elements are found. In addition, creating the cards in class had a positive educational effect and pedagogical value; it contributed to the development of some skills in the students (i.e., classification, combinatorial reasoning, and control of variables), as well as arousing their creativity and imagination, beyond a factor that simply stimulates attention and memory.22−25 The game is an excellent tool to introduce the topics and supplement the lectures. In our experience, this activity is much more stimulating to students than the traditional approach based on memorization.
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AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
Table 1. Student Scores of Games and Recreational Activities in the Course Families of Chemical Element Game Game of the Soccer World Cup15 Computer Tetris game Game of the octet rule13 Puzzle14 Practical work: Conductors and insulators18 Model of the telluric screw17 Bingo16 Identification of the chemical elements in pictures19
Activity
ASSOCIATED CONTENT
S Supporting Information *
A file with 45 card images. This material is available via the Internet at http://pubs.acs.org. 1046
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