Periodic Trends
in 3D
For this project, students were to make an artifact describing a periodic trend. The four periodic trends involved effective nuclear charge, ionization, electronegativity, and atomic radii.
Handouts For Periodic Trends in 3D
Rubric
Intro Ticket
Periodic Trends in 3D
Exit Ticket
Lesson Plan Part 1
Lesson Plan for Periodic Trends in 3D
Lesson Plan Part 2
Supplies List
Originality
How was the lesson developed to be innovative, creative and appealing in its use of context?
This project was the first time a maker lesson was attempted for these group of students at Crockett High School and was done for three different classes. The design of the lesson was developed together with my cooperating teacher, while specific items such as handouts, intro and exit tickets, and guides were made by me. The biggest focus was to ensure the students had as much creative freedom as possible, and were provided a wide variety of materials to work with.
Content
What was the content of the lesson, was it rigorous, and does it contain skills a young chemist will need for the future?
Periodic trends are essential as they allow scientist to quickly predict an elements properties. For this lesson, the students were to base their project on one of the four trends assigned to their group. These trends involved effective nuclear charge & shielding, atomic radii, ionization, and electronegativity. More details on the trend are explained below.
Atomic Radius
The atomic radius is the distance from an atoms nucleus to the outer most electron shell.
As you go from left to right for a period, the atomic radius decreases as the number of protons in the nucleus increases, pulling the valence electrons closer.
As you go from top to bottom in a group, the atomic radius increases. This occurs because an additional shell is added as you go down. In addition, the inner electrons push out the valence electrons, making the atom larger, referred to as shielding.
Ionization Energy
The ionization energy the amount of energy it takes to ionize an element, or to remove an electron from an element.
As you go from left to right for a period, the ionization energy increases. This occurs since the number of protons increase, pulling the electrons closer, requiring more energy to remove them. (think about trying to pull a ball away from a person who has a tight grip)
As you go from top to bottom in a group, the ionization decreases, since electrons are go further and further away from the nucleus, making them easier to remove from an atom. (think about a person holding a ball with arms stretched out, takes less energy to take the ball away)
Electronegativity
Electronegativity describes an atoms tendency to attract electrons when bonded with other atoms. The difference in electronegativity allows for polar and ionic bonds.
As you go from left to right for a period, the electronegativity increases.
As you go from top to bottom in a group, the electronegativity decreases.
Zeff & Shielding
The effective nuclear charge describes the overall pull of valence electrons towards the nucleus. Shielding describes how inner electrons push against the valence electrons from coming any closer to the nucleus, as like-charges repel each other.
As you go from left to right for a period, Zeff increases. This is because the number of protons in the nucleus increases, increasing the effective nuclear charge.
As you go from top to bottom in a group, Zeff decreases while shielding increases. This is because the valence electrons are going further away from the nucleus, and there are more inner electrons shielding the inner valence electrons.
Agency
How was the project personally meaningful?
The most important quality when it comes to making is giving students the opportunity to create an artifact that is personal to them. From the beginning to the end of the maker project the question I primarily asked students when they were confused was "what are your interests?" From there, I aided students in facilitating their ideas into a project.
In what way were students given the chance to express themselves?
Students were given the freedom to choose which direction to take their artifact. For the maker project, many of the students where given a wide variety of materials to work from, and they had the opportunity to request items to be purchased, 3D printed, or laser cut for their project through using the Periodic Trends in 3D guide.
To prevent students from feeling overwhelmed, I provided examples of various cardboard cutting techniques, tips on using LED lights, and examples of 3d prints and laser cuts to kickstart their imagination on their own project.
Once the students began their rough draft, I wrote down their requests and provided the materials the following day. For more advanced items, such as 3d prints & laser cutting, I visited the Co.lab, a community maker space north of Austin, to adhere to their requests and brought their items the following class period.
Below are a few images of some of the projects the students made. One student decided to make their whole project centered around the theme of chess, requesting a chess board to be cut out. The group then utilized cardboard cutting technique known as the slot cut to give the board elevation. Another example involved a group which used LED lights as their project theme was centered around football. One student was curious on how the LED and copper wire tape worked, and once I returned to give a tutorial, the student had figured it out. From there, the groups imagination ran wild. This is just one of many examples of students using their creativity to expand. Keep in mind, this was the first time the students experienced these tools and techniques.
Were students able to share their lesson with a larger community?
For presentation aspect of the project, the students presented their work to their peers through a gallery walk. The builder and the manager would stay behind and present the maker project, while the researcher went to each table to hear what the other groups had to say. As the facilitator, I also rotated to each group to ask questions about how they made their project, or to facilitate discussion to clarify what their trend was. The students also had the opportunity to see the various techniques and materials their peers used to make their project.
Sustained Collaborative Inquiry
How was the project collaboritave?
The student were assigned individual roles for the maker project, but had to work as a group in order to be able to complete the project for the time given.
What methods were used to encourage active learning and to have students think critically about the content?
Teams had to think critically about what their trend was, and how they could convey it in a unique way. This required higher level thinking, as the students had to make sure the content was accurate in order to make the project. In this way, learning the material was not the end goal, but served as a guide to complete the artifact.
How were students able to generate their own questions, use authentic tools and resources, and develop their own products?
Students where able to generate their own questions using ptable.com, an interactive periodic table. The website included the values for each elements electronegativity, ionization energy, and atomic radii.
From there, students had to question if their trend increased or decreased or a period or group, and how as how they could convery this in 3d. My goal as the facilitator was to guide the students to these answers by providing resources, materials, and clarification on specific trends.
Self Management of Learning
How were the students given choice on what they create, how they work, and how they use their time?
Establishing choice within a project is important as students can fill a role they feel they will be more suited to be successful. For each team, the students had to decide who wanted to be a builder, manager, or researcher. For groups of four, a creative design role was also included.
The builder primarily did the majority of the handy work, which involved obtaining supplies, gluing items down, and applying other materials to the project. The researcher had oversight on researching the trend assigned to the group, and the manager was in charge of the design choices of the project and making sure the guide was stamped after each portion was completed. They also had to draw a rough draft.
Revising and Presenting Work
How was the product tangible, and what opportunities where given to provide feedback reflection, and design choices?
The major requirement for the final artifact was that it had to have some 3d element. This meant a poster of the project would not count. With the wide variety of materials availible, teacher facilitation, and examples of projects, the students were scaffolded to make their final project.
Feedback was provided throughout the course of the project through formative assessment. Before the students could work on their project they had to have their rough draft stamped off. Once their idea was approved, I communicated with them on suggestions, and what materials they would need to make it happen.
How did the students present their work to an audience?
The students presented their work by a gallery walk. For each group, 2 students stayed behind to present, while the remaining rotated to each team. The students were also given sticky notes, where they had to write their name on the non-sticky side, but provide feedback on the sticky side so it would not be visible. The students were also taught how to give constructive criticism on projects still in progress.
Implementation
When was this lesson plan attempted, was it completed, and what additional changes or revisions will be made for future projects?
The lesson plan Periodic Trends in 3d was done during my time of apprentice teaching in middle of November. All three classes had the opportunity to complete the project, each given about roughly 3 class periods (each were 90 minutes) to work on their project. The students also were given additional tutoring hours outside of class, and tutoring during school hours, referred to as FIT that they could sign up for.
After viewing the student feedback one of the most common critiques was more access to materials, more time, and for groups to be organized better. For the groups, they were chosen completely by random through drawing of popsicle sticks done before class. If I could do it differently, I would have still randomized it, but went back and see how I could have had groups that were still heterogenous, but shared common interest or activities. The groups were still rather heterogenous, but adjustments could be made.
As for time, I feel this is a common complaint most students would have, although not as many students utilized FIT or tutoring hours during school. I feel three days was a good time frame, as the majority of students where able to complete their projects. If too much time is given, the students begin to lose interest. Initially the project was only going to be for two days, but I decided to extend it as a result of feedback from the students when visiting team to team.
Regarding materials, since this was my first maker lesson at Crockett, the maker space could have used better organization. Also, initially on the first day, not all the materials were available (even the gluegun came with glue that wasn't the right diameter to fit). These mistakes proved helpful as I now have a better idea for which materials to bring, and how to organize them in the future. In my future classroom, I plan to have my own created maker space, and will have bins with labeled materials for easier access. I am also currently working on having a 3d printer within my own classroom for students who choose to do their own prints.
Documentation
The following two PDFs are written out lesson plans I had for apprentice teaching (also located at the top of the page):
Lesson plan 9
Lesson plan 10
Reflection
Periodic Trends in 3d was the first maker lesson I had implemented for a high school audience. Although the preparation was tedious, the biggest surprise was how thankful most of the students were when I was able to fulfill their requests.
Once the students had their unique items printed out, the students quickly began to let their imagination run wild. It was absolutely amazing to see the level of creativity the students were able to showcase and I can't wait to see what new and creative things my future students will make.
For future improvements, I plan to have more remade examples of cardboard cutting techniques, LED techniques, as well as examples of coding through microbit. More details down below
Extension: Microbit by BBC
One of my initial goals was to have students use programing for their periodic trends project. Unfortunately, due to time constraints, I was unable to introduce the microbic to my students during the project.
However, I was able to have the students practice with programing the microbit with the chrome books after the lesson, and have them perform different tutorials such as creating a digital name tag, creating various light patterns, and creating their own facial expressions.
For the next implementation of this project, I plan to have students use their microbit to creatively demonstate their trend as well.
Self Ratings on Periodic Trends in 3d
Orginality - 4 (Students make their own 3d trend, making, relating to personal interests)
Content- 5 (Felt comfortable with content knowledge, and how to scaffold students to starting)
Agency - 4 (The project hits the key aspects of a maker project, only wish I could have included microbit)
Sustained Collaborative Inquiry - 4 (Roles assigned, students had to work collaboritively to complete project(
Self Management of Learning - 3 (Still needs improvement)
Revising and Presenting Work - 4 (Gave multiple opportunities for revision/gallery walk/ facilitation visiting teams)
Implementation - 4 (Project was well planned out for first attempt at high school)
Documentation - 3 (Lesson plan could use more detail)
Reflection - 4 (Discusses faults, and improvements in the future)