Student’s Create a Periodic Table of the Elements

In Mr. Sam Dahl’s science class at SJHS, the eighth-grade students made a periodic table of the elements.  Mr. Dahl assigned elements from the periodic table to the students, and the students went to a computer lab to research their assigned element.  Darien Karren, a student in Mr. Dahl’s class, said, “The funnest part was getting to draw and getting to color the element cards we made.”  The students were also able to make more element cards for extra credit.

Mr. Dahl said, “I don’t have a periodic table in the classroom besides in the text books.  Then I thought why not just have the students make one?  It seemed like a fun way to learn more about the periodic table.”  The periodic table in Mr. Dahl’s classroom is on a big bulletin board. The element cards that the students made are a half a sheet of paper folded in half. On the front of the paper it has the atomic number, the atomic mass, which state of matter it is in, and of course the name of the element.

Mr. Dahl said, “The most difficult part was doing the research to find the uses of each of the elements and some of their properties. The rest was easy.”

The periodic table the eighth graders created was very successful. According to Mr. Dahl, it turned out great! The students did a really good job making the cards, and he plans on doing it each year from now on. Creating the table was a good experience for the students to more about the periodic table and the elements.