Chemistry for Everyone
Sudoku Puzzles for First-Year Organic Chemistry Students
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Alice L. Perez* and G. Lamoureux Department of Chemistry, University of Costa Rica, 2060 San Pedro, San Jose, Costa Rica; *
[email protected] Sudoku is a game or puzzle that is composed of a 9 × 9 grid, containing 3 × 3 subgrids. In the traditional sense, the object of the games is to fill each row, column, and subgrid with the numbers one through nine. No mathematical skill is required since it relies on “pattern-recognition” and logic to complete the grids. Instead of filling in numbers, in other variations colors, letters, or shapes can be used as the pattern (1). The relationship between sudoku and chemistry is tenuous but there is a connection. Chemistry professor Michael Golde has commented, “the same strategy used to complete the [sudoku] puzzles can be applied to conducting a chemistry experiment (2).” It should be noted that there even exists a sudoku for the elements of the periodic table on the Internet (3). The widespread popularity of the sudoku puzzles shows the attraction that solving problems with logic provides. Furthermore, most people have a natural desire, when presented with a challenge, to fill in empty space. Also, there is a sense of accomplishment when the grid is filled. We decided to combine this desire with the teaching of the amino acids and the teaching of the functional groups in our organic chemistry undergraduate class. Other methods to help students learn the names include using a word-search (4) or a “discovery” of the names by images (rebus) (5). Four sudoku puzzles and their answers are available in the Supplemental Material.W The first three puzzles focus on helping the student learn the name, 3-letter code, and 1-letter code of common amino acids. Each row and column must contain all nine amino acids given to the students and each subgrid should only contain one type of information, that is name, 3-letter code, or 1-letter code (Figure 1). The fourth puzzle has the same criteria, but uses the name, structure, and abbreviation of nine common organic functional groups. W
Supplemental Material
Four sudoku puzzles, their answers, and student directions are available in this issue of JCE Online.
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Journal of Chemical Education
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Figure 1. Amino acid sudoku puzzle.
Acknowledgements We wish to thank the referees for their comments and to the class of “Química Orgánica III”, especially Carolina Calvo, for helping review these puzzles. Literature Cited 1. Sudoku Home Page. http://www.sudoku.com (accessed Jan 2007). 2. Matthews, M. Prof Uses Sudoku in Class. The Pitt News, Apr 12, 2006, News section. 3. Department of Chemistry, University of Hull, Periodic Table Sudoku. http://www.hull.ac.uk/chemistry/su_doku.php (accessed Jan 2007). 4. Helser, T. L. J. Chem. Educ. 1999, 76, 494. 5. (a) Helser, T. L. J. Chem. Educ. 1992, 69, 970. (b) Akers, H. J. Chem. Educ. 1993, 70, 1021.
Vol. 84 No. 4 April 2007
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