Teaching the organization of the periodic table

CHED 1599

Jodye I Selco, jiselco@csupomona.edu, Center for Education and Equity in Mathematics, Science and Technology, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, 3801 W. Temple Ave., Pomona, CA 91768, Mary Bruno, mbruno@rialto.k12.ca.us, Rialto Unified School District, Bemis Elementary School, Rialto, CA 92376, and Sue Chan, schan@rialto.k12.ca.us, Rialto Unified School District, Kolb Middle School, Rialto, CA 92376.
California standards require 5th grade students to know how the periodic table is organized. To demonstrate their knowledge, students are asked to predict combining ratios within binary compounds formed from main group elements. In a series of discovery-based lessons, students construct their own learning by exploring the organization of the periodic table. This hands-on, minds-on exploration involves the placement of atomic models onto the periodic table making visible the organization of the periodic table, and why the chemistry of elements within a family are similar. The use of new atomic/molecular models and having students sort this "data" onto a periodic table is facilitating student understanding of the organization of the periodic table, how to read it, and how to predict the formulae of binary compounds. These lessons were constructed to address the national science standards, the California state standards, and the national teaching standards required for each grade level.