ACTIVITY pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Element Cycles: An Environmental Chemistry Board Game Tracy Pippins,† Cody M. Anderson,‡ Eric F. Poindexter,‡ S. Whitney Sultemeier,‡ and Linda D. Schultz*,‡ † ‡
Graham High School, Graham, Texas 76450, United States Department of Chemistry, Geosciences, and Environmental Science, Tarleton State University, Stephenville, Texas 76402, United States
bS Supporting Information ABSTRACT: “Element Cycles” is an activity designed to reinforce correlation of essential elements and their different forms in the ecosystem. Students are assigned essential elements to research as homework, then share results, and construct game boards with four ecosphere sections: geosphere (earth), hydrosphere (water), atmosphere (air), and biosphere (life). The outside track is marked with essential elements, and “transition cards” move elements between ecosystem sections. Students play the game, individually or in teams, to reinforce understanding of the biogeochemical cycles. As players proceed through the ecosystem, they are shunted randomly between sections and must answer questions about the elements. The winner is the first student to successfully pass through the entire ecosystem. The game can be tailored to different grade levels by varying card complexity and game-board terminology. This game format is also adaptable to other chemical concepts. Cost for one game setup is less than $10. Average time required to complete one game is about 12 min. One class period is required for Internet research (if done in class), and one period is needed to share results and construct gameboards and cards. Alternatively, the teacher can construct the materials and only one class period is used for the activity. KEYWORDS: Elementary/Middle School Science, High School/Introductory Chemistry, Environmental Chemistry, Humor/ Puzzles/Games, Internet/Web-Based Learning, Atmospheric Chemistry, Bioinorganic Chemistry, Geochemistry, StudentCentered Learning, Water/Water Chemistry
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names of the compounds and ions, such as carbonate rocks, carbon dioxide gas, nitrogen gas, and so forth. For more advanced students, the ecosystems are defined as geosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere, the forms of the elements are the actual chemical formulas, such as CO32, CO2, and N2, and mechanisms of transformation can be included, such as oxidation, reduction, precipitation, and so forth. This game format is also adaptable to other chemical concepts and is an entertaining alternative to rote memorization of specific facts. One example of such a concept is solubility. The four sections of the board can be labeled as þ1 cations, 1 anions, þ2 cations, and 2 anions. The track is then marked with appropriate anions and cations, and when the student lands on a symbol, he or she is sent to an oppositely charged ionic section and must draw a specific ion card and correctly predict solubility. Other units, such as oxidationreduction, are also potential game topics.
complete ecosystem consists of the geosphere (earth), hydrosphere (water), atmosphere (air), and biosphere (life). The essential elements exist in different forms in each sphere and pass between them by chemical and physical processes called biogeochemical cycles. Students are initially introduced to these concepts in grades 46, but do not usually study them intensively until secondary environmental science classes.1 Incorporating games into a class (or lab) is a nonthreatening way to refresh a student’s memory, and the interactive format provides a stimulating environment in which to reinforce important concepts. Such games have been developed to address a wide variety of chemical concepts.2 “Element Cycles” is a simple board game designed to familiarize students in grades 412 with the most common essential elements and their roles in the environment. The students initially gain knowledge about the elements and their biogeochemical cycles by researching them online. This knowledge is then reinforced by constructing a game board with ecological sections and element cards to pass the elements between ecosystems. When the students play the game and are passed from ecosystem to ecosystem, the forms of the elements change and they gain greater appreciation of the cyclic nature of matter in the environment. The game can be customized for different grade levels. For elementary students, the ecosystems can be defined as earth, air, water, and life, and the forms of the elements are simply the Copyright r 2011 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.
’ MATERIALS • List of essential elements for students to research: The suggested minimum is C, N, P, and S, but the list may also be expanded to include O and H. Some good references, in Published: June 16, 2011 1112
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Figure 1. Illustration of game board for elementary students (an overhead or computer projection of this illustration is helpful when introducing the game to students).
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addition to the students’ textbook, are the Environmental Literacy Council Web site3 and the WebElements Web site.4 Study sheet or chart of assigned elements for students to complete as assignment prior to class. Index cards: 1 pack containing 4 colors of cards for each game board. White poster board (1 per game board): Ecosystems can be colored in and decorated with markers or covered with construction paper (4 colors each for each game board) or sections of colored poster board. One pair of dice per board. Game pieces: These can be colored buttons, coins with sticky colored dots, or other tokens.
’ PROCEDURE Preparation for Activity
Each student is given a worksheet with one or more essential elements to research for roles in the ecosystem and the biogeochemical cycle(s). The student researches his or her elements using books and online sources. This may be done at school or at home, depending on the resources available to the student. All students share results to complete their worksheets correctly. Construction of Game Board
A standard white poster board is cut into a square shape (22 in. 22 in.) to be used as the game board. A black felt-tip marker or crayon is used to draw lines 3 in. from the outer edges of the board to form the game track (Figure 1). The center sections of the tracks (16 in.) are divided into 8 sections by drawing lines across the tracks at 2 in. intervals. Diagonal lines are drawn connecting the inside corners of the central area. Each of the four central triangular areas is covered with construction paper of a different color or is colored with markers of different colors. A 3 in. 3 in. square of each color is cut and is used it to cover the right-hand corner of the board next to the central triangle of the same color. One area and matching corner is labeled as earth (geosphere), a second is labeled as water (hydrosphere), the third is labeled as air (atmosphere), and the fourth is labeled as life (biosphere). The earth corner is the start and finish of the game. One rectangle in each of the four sections of track is randomly labeled with the symbol C for carbon. The same is done for each of the other three elements: N, P, and S.
ACTIVITY
Each track section now has 4 blank spaces and 4 spaces labeled with element symbols. Total assembly time is about 20 min. Twelve index cards in each of four different colors are selected for a total of 48 cards. Three cards of each color are labeled with the symbol for each of the four elements C, N, P, and S. Each set of cards of one color is assigned to one of the “spheres”. Each of the three cards with the symbol of one particular element from one sphere is taken and labeled with the phrase “go to ___sphere”, which is the respective different sphere. For example, if the element is carbon and the cards are from the biosphere, the three cards say “go to atmosphere”, “go to geosphere”, and “go to hydrosphere”. Because there is no P in atmosphere, the three P cards from other spheres say “go to atmosphere, not present, return to start”. The P cards in atmosphere send players to other spheres. A template for the cards is available in the Supporting Information. Play the Game
The cards for each sphere are shuffled and placed on the board in their respective sphere (the colored triangle). The class is randomly divided into groups of five students or less for each game board. A pair of dice is thrown to determine who the “Ecosystem Regulator” will be and the order in which they play, with high score becoming the Regulator, second high score playing first, and so forth. In case of a tie, students throw again until the tie is broken. A game piece is then selected by each student. A sticker or some other token is given to the Regulator because he or she does not get to play the game for this round. The geosphere corner serves as the starting point. Each player rolls one die and proceeds clockwise through the geosphere as per the number of spaces indicated by the die (maximum of six). If the student lands on an element, he or she must draw a card with the symbol of that element, read it, show it to the other group members, and go to the beginning (corner) of the indicated sphere. The student must then properly identify the chemical form of that element in the new sphere or he or she misses his or her next turn. If the student answers correctly, he or she stays on the board. If the answer is not correct, the student moves his or her game piece off of the board for one turn. The Regulator holds the information key for the form of element in each sphere as obtained from the previously completed worksheets and rules whether the player keeps or loses a turn. If a question arises about the legality of an answer, the teacher is the ultimate authority. The card is returned to the deck, which is reshuffled. The first student to complete the circuit and return to the geosphere is the winner. However, all members of the group should be allowed to complete their turn, and if other students also complete the circuit during the same turn, a winner can be decided by rolling the dice again or by a coin flip. Note that being sent back to the beginning of the geosphere by a card does not count as a win; it is actually a penalty because the player must start the circuit again from the beginning. A winner must actually make it through the sphere preceding the geosphere to reach the finish. This game is random because a winner might occur with as little as three rounds of play (a rare occurrence) or the game can require several rounds. Therefore, one classroom management strategy is to allocate a certain time period for playing the game and to declare overall winners based on the number of games won by each individual student. If a game must be ended before a winner is declared, all players, including the Regulator, roll dice to determine the winner. The random nature of the game makes outcomes unpredictable, so this keeps all students occupied for the entire period. 1113
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Table 1. Scores on Homework, Pretest, and Posttest for Pre-AP and Regular Chemistry Classes Class Type Pre-AP Chemistry
Sum/Average Chemistry
Sum/Average
Number of Students
Homework Average
Pretest Average
Posttest Average
Performance Change
(%)
(%)
(%)
(%)
Homework Compliance
12
11/12
57
46
60
14
15
14/15
64
46
76
30
19
10/19
46
63
31
57
26
61
41
64
23
16
13/16
36
44
46
2
16 17
12/16 11/17
39 41
36 31
47 54
11 23
39
37
48
12
49
An appropriate prize or reward system may be chosen by the teacher if desired.
’ RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The effectiveness of this game as a learning tool was tested in a classroom environment. Ninety-five students, mostly secondyear high school students, participated in the activity. The classes consisted of three sections of pre-AP chemistry and three sections of regular chemistry, which included some students with special needs. Only one 45-min class period was available for the activity. All students were given a list of elements to research as a homework assignment on Monday. Because the students were high school level, they were allowed to select their own reference sources. On Wednesday the assignments were collected and the students given a brief pretest to assess their level of mastery of the material from this learning strategy. After a brief review of the correct answers, the students were presented with the game, allowed to play a moderate level game for 1520 min, and given a posttest. The students and teacher enjoyed the activity, and no behavioral problems were noted among the students. The reactions of the students to the competitive game atmosphere were interesting: the students quickly developed an interest in learning the correct answers so that they could monitor the results of the other players. Some groups (mostly athletes) were quite competitive, whereas other groups tended to coach each other. The random nature of the game kept the students interested when the faster groups played second or third games. Results of the testing are shown in Table 1. Homework scores were significantly higher in the pre-AP chemistry classes, although pretest class averages were not improved to the same extent. Apparently these students applied themselves more to completing the assignment than to mastering the material. However, pre-AP chemistry students did show a larger improvement in their posttest scores. Five out of six classes showed marked improvement in their level of mastery of the material on the posttest. The sixth class, one of the regular chemistry classes, showed only minimal improvement. It is interesting to note that this class also had an unusually high pretest average, although their homework average was not remarkable and their posttest scores were approximately the same as those of the other regular chemistry classes. It is unfortunate that only one class period was available for this project to be tested, because a large portion of the learning process occurs during construction of the game board and element cards. Although the students averaged about 50% on
their homework assignments, their retention levels on the pretest were only about 40%. After a brief review of the correct answers and a period of playing the game, the posttest scores rose to approximately 55%, which indicates that playing the game reinforced the student’s retention of the material. However, we did not have an opportunity to compare these results against a control group.
’ CONCLUSION Much of the learning involved in this activity occurs when the students research their assigned elements to locate and record their biogeochemical cycles. Students should observe in which portions of the periodic table the essential elements are located. They should discover, during their research process, that their bodies require basic chemical elements to function properly, and these elements are found in many foods. They also learn where and how to find information about chemical elements. The game can also be modified easily by the instructor by changing content and complexity to accommodate students of different grade levels. Constructing and playing the game serves to reinforce the learning process through further exposure to the knowledge obtained through the student’s own research. When the game was evaluated in an actual classroom setting, student scores were improved compared to their scores prior to the activity. Therefore, this game can serve as an inexpensive, enjoyable, and effective teaching and learning tool. ’ ASSOCIATED CONTENT
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Supporting Information Student handout for the homework assignment; instructions to build the game board; examples of the playing cards; pre- and posttest; rules for the game; photos of the activity; homework key for the instructor. This material is available via the Internet at http://pubs.acs.org.
’ AUTHOR INFORMATION Corresponding Author
*E-mail:
[email protected].
’ ACKNOWLEDGMENT This game was originally developed in response to the American Chemical Society 2008 “Chemvention” challenge to 1114
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develop a hands-on activity for elementary school students to familiarize them with the properties of an element (or elements) for less than $50. Team members included Owen Howard, Benjamin Kaster, Cody Anderson, Laura Rogers, Whitney Sultemeier, Travis Figg, Anne Massie, Christopher Boyd, and Clifford Terrel. The financial assistance of The Robert A. Welch Foundation, Chemistry Departmental Grant AS-0012 is gratefully acknowledged.
’ REFERENCES (1) Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS): Science, for Kindergarten through Grade 12, Texas Education Agency, Austin, TX, 2002, concepts 5.6, 5.7, 6.7, 7.7, 8.9, 112.45 (11, 12). (2) Russell, J. V. J. Chem. Educ. 1999, 76, 481–484 (review of 67 games). (3) Literacy Council Web site. www.enviroliteracy.org/subcategory. php/198.html (accessed Apr 2011). (4) WebElements Web site. www.webelements.com (accessed Apr 2011).
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