Move Over Mendeleev

Understanding the periodicity of the Periodic Table of Elements may be a difficult concept for eighth or ninth grade students to understand. The author of this article shows how using cerea... See More

Understanding the periodicity of the Periodic Table of Elements may be a difficult concept for eighth or ninth grade students to understand. The author of this article shows how using cereal box fronts can help clear up some of the confusion. The teacher has the students help her collect over 100 different cereal box fronts in the beginning of the school year. They use them to create a giant Periodic Table of Cereal Boxes on their classroom floor. First they come up with ideas for the rows and columns. Next they organize the box fronts by attributes listed on the individual cereal ingredients labels. Students practice collaborative skills to create their classroom product. The article also explains how students can use paint chip samples to create primitive periodic tables much like Mendeleev probably did with the original concept for arranging elements. As a teacher who has had students create their own periodic tables of ‘anything’ as an authentic assessment, I wish I had discovered this idea to use cereal box fronts sooner. It would be an excellent way to introduce my students to their periodic table project.

Cereal Box Periodic Table

This activity involves collecting 100+ cereal box fronts for the purpose of introducing the periodic table of the elements. Students sort and arrange the cereal boxes into columns and rows ... See More

This activity involves collecting 100+ cereal box fronts for the purpose of introducing the periodic table of the elements. Students sort and arrange the cereal boxes into columns and rows based on common characteristics. The resulting table of box fronts is "too big to permanently display" so I'm wondering how all students remain actively engaged throughout the activity. Also, the 80 minutes required for the activity is too long for a 1 hour class period such as mine. How could it be modified for classes not on the block schedule?