The Periodic Table: Contest and Exhibition - Journal of Chemical

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The Periodic Table: Contest and Exhibition Aurora Silva, M. Fátima Barroso, Olga Freitas, Salomé Teixeira, Simone Morais,* and Cristina Delerue-Matos Requimte/Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Instituto Politécnico do Porto, Departamento de Engenharia Química, Rua S. Tomé, 4200 Porto, Portugal; *[email protected]

The systemization and organization of ideas and concepts is an integral part of science. In chemistry, the organization of the periodic table of the chemical elements in the 1860s was one of the greatest scientific breakthroughs ever made and in fact during the 20th century it became a universally recognized scientific icon (1). The periodic table is the fundamental classificatory scheme of the elements and summarizes the realm of chemistry (2). Simply knowing the position of an element in the periodic table tells us about its properties and is usually enough to predict how the element will behave in a wide variety of different situations or reactions (1). Based on this potential mine of information, it is possible to make reliable predictions of the properties of the compounds that each element forms. Nowadays, the concept of the periodic table is starting to interact with other sciences and reports of periodic tables of amino acids (3), genetic codes (4), protein structures (5), and biology (6) can be found in the specialized literature. Symbiosis between science and art, for example, “The Periodic Table of The Elephants” (7), can also be seen. To appeal to a better understanding of the periodic table, the Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Instituto Politécnico do Porto and the Centro de Química da Universidade do Porto promoted a contest and exhibit with the goal of stimulating a wide and heterogeneous audience, ranging from young children and their parents to graduate students from several disciplines, to explore the nature of this icon. Imaginative educational activities such as contests (8–10), games (11, 12), and puzzles (13–15) provided a way to communicate with the general public with the goal of attracting students to science. This also constituted an interesting, informative, and entertaining alternative to non-interactive lectures. Simultaneously, artistic creativity was combined with scientific knowledge. Contest Rules The two-month contest was widely advertised in schools, universities, journals, and so forth and individual or group participants (no limitation on participation was imposed) Table 1. Contribution of the Different Levels in the Contest

Participation (%)

Level

People

Elementary and middle school High school

Works

4.4

7.5

82.3

47.5

Professional school

1.0

University

6.9

25

5.0

Othera

5.4

15

a

Individual or families.

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were asked to submit scientific or artistic works, all based on the periodic table. Each contribution had to be accompanied by a clear and simple explanatory text as the works would be evaluated, exhibited to the public for six months, and included in the exhibition catalog. The three best proposals would win 500, 400, and 300 Euro prizes, respectively. Evaluation and classification would be done by seven people active in areas such as chemistry, chemical engineering, physical chemistry, literature, art, and design. All members of the general public who visited the exhibit were also asked to vote for their preferred work. Overview of Presented Works and Profile of the Participants The initiative had a good response from several levels of students and 40 works were accepted (see Figures 1–5). This involved a total of 21 different institutions and 180 participants. Distinctions with regard to the origin of the authors may be made: college and university students (from advanced chemistry courses, biotechnology, art and design, etc.) or people having a first or higher degree in different areas of knowledge incorporated more aesthetic and subjectivity into their work, mainly, on an individual basis in the areas of literature (quiz, Figure 2, number 13; poem, Figure 5, number 33), music (Figure 5, number 38, a fado—mournful Portuguese folk song, and number 40), painting (Figure 1, numbers 3 and 4), sculpture (Figure 1, number 7 and Figure 5, number 36), photography (Figure 5, number 37), new multimedia technologies (Figure 2, numbers 14 and 16), and design (Figure 1, number 6; Figure 2, number 10; Figure 3, number 23; Figure 4, number 25; and Figure 5, number 34). A handmade towel and carpet (Figure 3, number 20 and Figure 5, number 35, respectively) were also presented. Younger participants from elementary, middle, and high schools proposed, individually but usually in groups, more objective works that were oriented towards recreational, pedagogic, scientific, and classroom use of the periodic table. Traditional (Figure 2, number 15; Figure 3, number 18; and Figure 4, number 27), new (Figure 1, number 8), or multimedia-based games (Figure 4, numbers 28, 31), comics (Figure 2, number 9), video (Figure 4, number 26), embroidery (Figure 1, number 5 and Figure 2, number 11), t-shirt (Figure 4, number 30), and three-dimensional constructions (as large as 4.0 × 1.8 × 2.1 m) were made using tiles (Figure 3, number 17), wood (Figure 3, number 19 and Figure 4, number 29), and various waste materials (Figure 1, numbers 1, 2; Figure 2, number 12; Figure 3, numbers 21, 22, 24) such as plastic, aluminum, card boxes (in number 2 each element was represented by an informative little book), and so forth were produced. As shown in Table 1, the majority of contributions came from high schools where entire classes, with help from

Vol. 83 No. 4 April 2006

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Journal of Chemical Education

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Figure 1. Pictures of the works (1–8) submitted to the contest and displayed at the exhibition.




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Figure 6. Organizing the formation of the human periodic table in the opening day of the exhibition.


their instructors, proposed different approaches. Two households participated by preparing periodic tables constructed with chocolates and lemon biscuits (Figure 4, number 32 and Figure 5, number 39). On the opening day of the exhibition, all contributors and several prominent professionals related to chemistry were invited to view an outdoor launching of balloons simulating the periodic table (Figure 6). Each element was represented by a person holding a balloon having the same color as those belonging to the same periodic table group. To be allowed to participate in the human-built periodic table, students had to know and explain, before they took their place, the characteristics of the element that they represented. After the launching, two plenary lectures on the periodic table were given. The exhibition was attended by more than 2000 visitors, and several schools organized guided tours to the exhibition. A catalog containing photographs of the works and the explanations of the author(s) was also furnished to the public. Significant methodological difficulties in evaluation were posed owing to the diversity of the proposals and this was especially true for those exhibits based almost exclusively on aesthetics and perceptions. The winning work voted by the general public was the contribution made with tiles by young students having a size of 2.76 × 1.80 × 0.30 m (Figure 3, number 17). The judges preferred an adaptation of the game “Monopoly” (Figure 2, number 15). According to its sixteen-year old author, “The purpose of this game is to sell, buy, or rent elements in order to be able to form chemiwww.JCE.DivCHED.org

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cal bonds between them and become richer; the price of each element is directly correlated with its reactivity and several chemical bonds may be established simultaneously if it is in agreement with the chemical theory.” The didactic and pedagogic character of this work was the reason for the attribution of the first prize. Applying the same criteria, the second prize was given to a puzzle formed by 270 pieces (Figure 3, number 18). Its authors pointed out as their objectives, “to learn to understand the organization of the chemical elements through the exercise of building the periodic table piece-bypiece”. The third prize (Figure 5, number 37) was given to a work constituted by a group of pictures allusive to each chemical element and mounted in small colorful rectangles for displaying periodicity. Conclusion The level of resourcefulness and imagination that is required for real advances in chemical education is comparable to that required in chemical research. The organized contest and exhibition was not, unlike other previous studies in the area of chemistry, designed to support a result with statistical significance. Such contests and exhibitions may have important implications for sciences in terms of public and student communication in different school contexts. Given the negative feelings many students bring to chemistry, contests and exhibitions offer a very practical and valuable approach to make the subject matter more friendly and to attract students to modern and interdisciplinary chemistry. Acknowledgments The organizing committee thanks the Instituto Politécnico do Porto and the Centro de Química da Universidade do Porto for the financial support that made this event possible. António Cruz is gratefully acknowledged for his valuable help as a designer in mounting the exhibit and in producing the catalog.


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Supplemental Material

Full-page, color versions of Figures 1–5 are available in this issue of JCE Online. Literature Cited 1. Rouvray, Dennis H. Endeavour 2004, 28, 69–74. 2. Sanderson, R. T. Chemical Periodicity; Reinhold: New York, 1960; p 1. 3. Biro, J. C.; Benyó, B.; Sansom, C.; Szlávecz; Fördös, Á. G.; Micsik, T.; Benyó, Z. Biomed. Biophys. Res. Commun. 2003, 306, 408–415. 4. Morimoto, Susumu. J. Math. Chem. 2002, 32, 159–200.

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Taylor, Willie R. Nature 2002, 416, 657–660. Kiessling, Laura L. Chem. Eng. News 2001, 79 (13), 246. Morissey, Susan. Chem. Eng. News 2002, 80 (23), 62. Wieder, Milton J. J. Chem. Educ. 2001, 78, 468–469. Deavor, James P. J. Chem. Educ. 2001, 78, 467. Williams, Kathryn R. J. Chem. Educ. 1999, 76, 460. Crude, Thomas D. J. Chem. Educ. 2000, 77, 481–482. Deavor, James P. J. Chem. Educ. 1996, 73, 430. Kelkar, V. D. J. Chem. Educ. 2002, 79, 456. Lucy, Charles A. J. Chem. Educ. 2000, 77, 459–470. Castro-Acuna, Carlos M.; Dominguez-Danache, Ramiro E.; Kelter, Paul B.; Grundman, Julie J. Chem. Educ. 1999, 76, 496–498.

This article is featured on the cover of this issue. See page 515 of the table of contents for a description of the cover.

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The Periodic Table: Contest and Exhibition - Journal of Chemical

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