Introducing Students to the Periodic Table Using a Descriptive Approach of Superheroes, Meats, and Fruits and Nuts

Abstract

In some universities, there is a significant population of first year chemistry students who enter the system with very little prior knowledge of the subject. This, coupled with preconceived ideas of subject difficulty, necessitates that the introduction of key concepts is carried out in a nonthreatening, engaging, simplistic, and efficacious manner. The periodic table is one of the most important and fundamental tools and forms the base of the scaffold for all aspects of not only chemistry but all of the sciences. Traditionally, this is introduced in a historical manner which identifies various elemental properties and builds up the table through time, often highlighting key individuals. We have adopted a novel nonhistorical approach as a preintroduction to the formal periodic table to our first-year chemistry students. This introduction focuses on key characteristic aspects of the table construction, such as grouping objects using columns, rows, blocks, and color; numbering of objects; use of abbreviations for objects; combining individual objects; and transitioning across and down the table, e.g., size changes across and down the table. These features are demonstrated using a variety of pseudo "periodic tables", including the Periodic Tables of iPad Apps, Fruit and Nuts, Meat, and Superheroes. The delivery of the various tables to introduce students to the chemical periodic table could be adopted (and appropriately adapted) to any level of the education system (from primary to tertiary levels). Feedback from students (n = 226) using the Likert scale showed the utilization of this form of introduction to be an effective way in teaching the various critical concepts of the periodic table.