The links below describe a neat way for your students to do research on a particular element and display their results to your entire class. Each student constructs an icosahedron with a different kind of information about an element on each of the 20 faces. The icosahedra are then hung from the classroom ceiling in the form of a periodic table. This is a great idea for National Chemistry Week (Oct. 19-23). Information about the elements can be found from Periodic Table Live!, an interactive periodic table available form the ChemEd DL.

This material is reprinted with permission from the Journal of Chemical Education, which holds copyright to the material.

Article. Periodic Table Icosahedra

Supplemental directions for doing the activity and making an icosahedron. Supplemental Directions

This posting is from the Chemical Education Digital Library blog is by John Moore, Chemistry Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

For the month of October, we’re highlighting resources for Chemistry teaching. Look for continued resource materials and examples this month. Here’s a way to chart, sort and graph elements from an interactive periodic table: Through Periodic Table Live! of NSDL’s Chemical Education Digital Library (http://chemeddl.org) you can find information related to each element, including its characteristics, videos, properties, atomic structure and more. Be sure to use the chart and sort feature to discuss and demonstrate element groups and their properties.

Here’s info from the site on the use of the chart/sort tool:
“There are three major components: a periodic table, a graphing component, and a data table that can be used for visual presentation of a variety of data. The periodic table is used to select or deselect the sets of elements included in each comparison. The graphing component is used to view numerical data, such as densities, atomic numbers, and so on. The table component can be used to view both numerical and non–numerical information, such as the uses and sources of an element.”

Also, try out the element graphing tool: http://chemeddl.org/collections/ptl/PTL/charts/docs/graph.html

Don’t forget the NSDL/NSTA Web Seminar on October 15th on Chemistry Comes Alive IV: Oxidation and Reduction!

Do your students ever ask, “Why are we learning this?” Or maybe they sometimes say, “We’re never going to use this stuff in the real world!” Providing examples of how scientific concepts are used in the world beyond school naturally helps youngsters be more interested and engaged, and retain information better. How to do this? Engineering is the answer! Engineers have a hand in designing, creating or modifying nearly everything we touch, wear, eat, see and hear in our daily lives. Everyone knows that cars, computers, airplanes and bridges are products of imaginative engineering. But so are bubble gum, baseball bats, movie special effects, roller coasters and synthetic human tissue replacements.

Engineering is about creating what has never existed before.
Engineers couple creativity and imagination with analytical skills to meet the needs of people while preserving our planet’s resources and cultures. Exploration of engineering in the K12 setting inspires youngsters to become aware of the human-made world around them. Developing engineering habits of mind helps youth imagine themselves as shaping the future - developing skills to address real-world challenges and creating things for the benefit of humanity and our planet. K-12 engineering curricula introduces young students to relevant and fulfilling science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) content in an integrated fashion through exploration of the built world around them. The engineering profession is rewarding - both emotionally satisfying and financially. An engineering future can provide an avenue for individuals to contribute to the nation’s well being and the planet’s future.

A great resource for hands-on engineering activities for K-12 classrooms is the TeachEngineering digital library.

This collection contains more than 500 free activities to relate your science content to different types of engineering and engineering careers. Use of the TeachEngineering lessons and activities engages students in the everyday application of science, mathematics, technology and engineering in our world to help them to be smart consumers, able to make informed choices and equipped to have intelligent conversations about modern technological issues. Easily integrated into existing lesson content and mapped to educational content standards, TeachEngineering’s comprehensive curricula are hands-on, inexpensive, and relevant to children’s daily lives.

Written by Mindy Zarske, K-12 Engineering Coordinator ITL Program, University of Colorado at Boulder, TeachEngineering

Seeing and hearing examples of scientists breaking out of the traditional mold of what it means to be a scientist can be a great way to not only inspire students to pursue careers in science, but can also help them see the scientific process in action and how that process applies to so many fields of study. Considering the increasing avenues that science permeates throughout our lives, student understanding of the kind of skills scientists use in their work can broaden students’ perspectives on what it means to be a scientist outside of the traditional notion of the laboratory.

Take for example, artist and geologist Dr. Susan Eriksson. She uses a full palette of materials and methods in her artwork: rock, metal, paint…and even principles of chemistry. In a video interview from US News & World Report, you can see some of Dr. Eriksson’s artistic interpretations of landscapes, textures, and the geologist’s view of earth in flat planes. Her perspectives serve as a springboard for creating captivating art that merges the worlds of art and science, and demonstrates how both of these worlds tap into the processes of creativity and discovery.

“Research has long documented that people of all ages - elementary school children, college students, and adults - cannot explain the cause of day and night or seasons,” Jessica Fries-Gaither points out in an article in the online teacher professional development magazine, Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears.

Further in the article, Fries-Gaither points to some specific misconceptions students have related to seasons:

* The earth is closer to the sun during summer and farther away during winter.
* Seasons happen at the same time everywhere on earth.
* Seasonal characteristics and change are the same everywhere on earth.

A great place to get materials, background information, and interactives all in one place about the subject of seasons is the Middle School Science Pathway. They have e-publications on middle school science topics that are well organized and easy to use. The e-publication, “Reasons for the Seasons” has links to the Harvard Private Universe study and also real-time data activities to help dispel these misconceptions for greater understanding.

Here’s another big bonus: The Middle School Portal also has another set of materials related to middle school mathematics as well!