I bet your students think they know the periodic table already. You may have already been using it by the time you get to this unit. So… what else is there? I know this isn’t your attitude. You know they have LOTS to learn. But many students go into this unit thinking it’ll be a breeze. And it can be if they are willing to learn patterns!
This unit is light on “wet labs”. I have yet to find any really good labs that I love for teaching the periodic table. I’ve seen the 3D trends with straws. It’s cool looking, but my kiddos tend to get bogged down in cutting straws.
I like to focus on the patterns that Mendeleev and Mosely saw in the elements to come up with their tables in the first place. We discuss this on day one. Sometimes I find a video and sometimes just images- it depends on the year.
Periodic Table Lesson Plans
Total Duration: 9-12(15) days
Note: a day refers to 45-50 minute periods.
| Topic & Timeline | Tasks | Description |
| How to Read the Periodic Table 0.5-1 day | PT Organization Discussion Notes + Practice | Cut out a periodic table and tape the f-block between the s and d-blocks. You can, if desired, also tape the periodic table in a cylinder. Show this to your students and discuss how impractical this design would be for everyday use. Review the basics of the periodic table. Metals, metalloids, and nonmetals. How to read a square on the periodic table. |
| Periodic Table Families 0.5-1 day | Notes + Practice | Diving a bit more into how the PT is organized, share the periodic table families with your students. This is preparation for periodicity. |
| **Electrons and the Periodic Table 1-3 days | Electron Configurations POGIL Electron Notation – Comparison Discussion | If you do not have time or don’t want to teach a separate unit on the electron, this would be a great place to add in a couple of lessons on electrons. Understanding that it’s not only the nucleus that affects periodicity is important, especially if you teach ionic radius and electronegativity. They will see Bohr model comparisons in the next activity so that you could push the comparison discussion to AFTER the WebQuest. |
| Atomic Radius 1 day | Atomic Radius WebQuest | Students work through an online simulation, comparing the atomic radii of s and p-block elements. |
| Periodicity 1-2 days | “Graphing” Periodic Trends | A colleague of mine came across an activity where students are given 3 blank periodic tables. On one they draw the atomic radius. On another, they draw a line to represent electronegativity. Another is for ionization energy. They represent the last two with lines. It’s pretty cool. You may not need to do the WebQuest and this activity, but they do work nicely together. |
| Trends 1 day | Notes + Practice | Students learn the reason for periodicity and practice predicting properties based on trends. |
| Activities Series 1 day | Lab – Activity Series | Students compare the reactivity of copper, magnesium, and zinc. This is really just to get them in the lab. In addition, you can show them some clips of the alkali metals in water. I use this one as a bell ringer the day of the lab. It gets them excited and thinking about how reactivity changes based an element’s location (and therefore it’s atomic structure). |
| Periodic Table Project 2-3 days | Periodic Table Project | I love this periodic table project from Sunrise Science. Students design their own periodic table of “something”- whatever they want as long as it’s school appropriate. They better understand how the periodic table is organized and how the trends change across a period. You could move this project to before the atomic radius activity as an introduction. |
| Review | Trends MysteryPT VocabularyTrends Vocabulary | You don’t have to use a logic puzzle to review for your test… but it’s so much fun! This periodic trends mystery is a pretty standard activity. I think when I taught 8th grade, it was floating around as the “Alien Periodic Table.” It’s cute and gets them applying their understanding of how the table is organized. |
| Assessment |
Further Reading
The Chemistry Particle’s Guide to Teaching High School Chemistry, The Chemistry Particle
Electrons + Light Lesson Plans, The Chemistry Particle
Periodic Trends Simulation, AACT
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