Guess Who? The Periodic Table!

Guess Who? The Periodic Table! by ncgillis

I developed this game as part of a “creativity in science teaching” assignment. Educational games are excellent ways of providing differentiated instruction in the classroom. At their best, they can hold a students’ attention far longer than a teacher can, allow for differentiated learning through visual, kinesthetic and interpersonal stimulation, increase motivation for learning through playful competition, and encourage oral communication, collaboration and peer teaching between players. Most importantly, they make learning fun.

Game Play
Guess Who? The Periodic Table! is played in the same way as the original Hasbro game Guess Who? The periodic table game cards are designed to be printed and used with the game trays provided with the original game.

At its core, Guess Who? is a modified game of “20 Questions” (see player rules provided with the game cards for details). Note that with either game card, students may ask any questions about an element’s properties (lustrous, flammable, metal, gas, etc.) but may not ask questions about an element’s location on the periodic table, as this would make the game too easy.

Game Card 1: The First 24 Elements
As the title suggests, this card includes only the first 24 elements, and is designed to encourage familiarity with the symbols for and physical and chemical properties of these elements (e.g., density, texture, combustibility, etc.), as mandated by the Ontario Grade 9 Science curriculum.

Students may need to refer to their notes or textbooks to help them formulate appropriate questions about the physical and chemical properties of the elements. Doing so will reinforce learning from lessons, labs and other activities and should be encouraged.

Game Card 2: The Elements and STSE
This game card expands student thinking about the elements beyond their properties to their historical, cultural, economic and environmental significance, and includes some of the lesser-known elements. Most of the information on this game card extends learning beyond the Ontario Grade 9 Science curriculum.

Variation
Though Guess Who? is designed as a two-player game, teachers may print a class set of game cards and provide one to each student, without the game trays. Students could then play in pairs or small groups, stroking out elements as they are eliminated through questioning. Laminated game cards could be reused: students could write on them with dry erase markers, wax crayons or grease pencils.

Skills encouraged
The original Guess Who? is a simple but effective game that encourages a variety of skills that are important to the Ontario science curriculum:

• logical thinking
• deductive reasoning
• observation and visual discrimination
• grouping
• question formulation
• listening and oral communication

In addition to promoting these skills, Guess Who? The Periodic Table! also encourages students to:

• use vocabulary associated with the chemical elements and the periodic table (alkali metals, halogens, noble gases, etc.)
• recognize elemental symbols (Fe, Cl, N, Na, etc.)
• become familiar with the positions of elements and groups on the table
• compare and contrast physical properties of different elements

Use in the classroom
Guess Who? The Periodic Table! can be used in the classroom in a variety of ways:

• as part of a series of hands-on activity centres that allow students to explore scientific concepts and learning with partners or in small groups
• as a group or partner activity to familiarize students with or consolidate learning of the periodic table and the properties of the first 20 elements (students will be able to self-assess their additional learning needs based on how easily they can formulate questions that get them closer to winning the game)
• as a class activity to review learning about the chemical and physical properties of elements and the organization of the periodic table in Grade 9 Science
• a class-wide diagnostic tool at the beginning of the Grade 10 Science chemistry unit to assess how well students remember what they learned in Grade 9
• as a culminating activity, students could develop their own versions of Guess Who? incorporating physical and chemical properties of the elements. Student success at developing this variation would allow for assessment of overall learning about the properties of elements covered in class
• as a tool to inspire greater depth and breadth of learning through independent study in gifted or advanced learners

The Ontario Science Curriculum and Guess Who? The Periodic Table
Guess Who? The Periodic Table! encourages thinking in each of the four categories of knowledge and skills identified in the achievement chart for the Ontario science curriculum:

• Knowledge and understanding (through familiarity with chemical elements and the periodic table)
• Thinking and investigation (through questioning and observing)
• Communication (through oral communication, use of vocabulary and terminology)
• Application (by making connections between science, technology, society, and the environment)

Contact me if you would like the complete Ontario Grade 9 Science curriculum fit.

Literacy connections
Guess Who? The Periodic Table can increase student proficiency at reading symbols used in chemistry, particularly the symbols for the elements themselves, as well as various laboratory and cultural symbols (toxicity, radioactivity, gas, etc.).

“The Elements and STSE” game card encourages scientific literacy through connections with etymology and mythology, and can be a way of piquing student interest in various elements and driving them to do further reading on various topics.

Extensions
For students looking for additional challenges, “The Elements and STSE” game card can be used to encourage further study on a variety of topics, including:

• etymology of element names
• history of a particular element’s discovery
• scientist who first isolated or discovered a particular element
• contributions of female chemists
• economic importance of various elements
• environmental risks associated with various elements (bioacummulation in ecosystems, groundwater contamination, impacts of mining)
• toxicity and health risks of various elements

Students can also use the game cards as a model to create their own version of Guess Who? for other science units (e.g., cell organelles, ecosystems, living organisms, etc.).

The periodic table included with the game cards and instructions is Ptable.com's Dynamic Periodic Table. The Royal Society of Chemistry's Visual Elements Periodic Table is also an excellent resource.

If you use this activity with your students, let me know in the comments how it went!