Periodic Puzzles are a set of engaging activities designed to help students become familiar with the Periodic Table. Different puzzle sets are designed to teach concepts such as individual elements, classifications, and features.
Description and Details:
- Designed for the Introductory Level Science Class (middle school and early high school level)
- Introductory level is suitable for the General Science Classroom (Grades 4-10), Intermediate Level (Grades 10-11), Advanced Level (Grade 11-post-secondary)
- Each puzzle set focuses on different patterns, concepts and academic levels of the periodic table of elements (introductory level chemistry to advanced level chemistry, *AP, *IB, and *introductory university level chemistry)
- Students work individually, in pairs, or in small groups of 4 to 6 to arrange the pieces all at once into the proper region of the periodic table.The time it takes to complete each puzzle is recorded and compared with other groups. Students can also take turns placing the pieces in the appropriate location until the puzzle is completed.
- Students can also receive one tile and determine a specific number of physical or chemical properties depending on the location of the element on the periodic table, or discuss as a class.
- Periodic Table Puzzles can also be used to introduce, review, and formatively assess student understanding of specific concepts.
Puzzle Set Overview:
| Introductory Chemistry Puzzle Sets | Advanced Chemistry Puzzle Sets | ||||
| Topic | Description | # pieces | Topic | Description | # pieces |
| Element Tiles-Puzzle Set #1 | 118 individual elements, atomic number, mass, symbol | 118 | Electrochemistry Tiles-Puzzle Set #6 | Oxidizing (OA)/reducing agents (RA), loss/gain electrons (LEO)/ (GER), metal/non-metal, ion charges, relative reactivity | 17 |
| Groups/Families Tiles-Puzzle Set #2 | alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, metals/non-metals, halogens, noble gases, actinides, lanthanides, transition metals | 13 | Atomic Theory; Periodic Trends Tiles-Puzzle Set #7 | physical/chemical properties; atomic size, radii, state, density, conductivity, ionization energy, valence electrons, reactivity, electron affinity | 14 |
| Atomic Theory; Electron Energy Level Tiles-Puzzle Set #3 | electron energy levels for first 18 elements, no. of subatomic particles, valence electrons | 31 | Atomic Orbital Theory; SPDF regions Tiles-Puzzle Set #8 | orbital shape regions and descriptions | 8 |
| Chemical Bonding; Shapes and VSEPR Theory Tiles-Puzzle Set #4 | molecular shapes, valence electron number, and bonding type | 17 | Atomic Orbital Theory; electron configuration/address Tiles-Puzzle Set #9 | electron configuration for first 36 elements (e.g. 1s22s22p6 represents the element Neon) | 52 |
| Chemical Bonding; Lewis Diagram Tiles-Puzzle Set #5 | bonding/lone pairs of electrons, shapes, loss/gain of electrons, no. of orbitals, orbital filling | 39 | Atomic Orbital Theory; electron spin diagram Tiles-Puzzle Set #10 | electron spin diagram for first 36 elements; up/down arrows to describe electron spin, orbitals and no. of orientations | 52 |