You have been solicited by the Science community to create a new Periodic Table of the Elements. Can you represent it in a different form than its current one? This project is based on the process of Solution Fluency and Collaboration Fluency presented in class and with your COL teacher.
In your group, DEFINE and Discover: What is the challenge you’ve been given? (Restate the problem you are attempting to solve in your own words with all it nuances)
The Science community has challenged us to establish a new way to organize and layout the periodic table, we are asked to make it is less time consuming and easier to navigate the individual elements due to the fact that the elements seem to be difficult to find quickly wanted us to take on a hands-on approach taking this outdated piece of art and turning it into something magnificent with new elements continuously being added. Nature is clever in that no single and simple periodic chart can reveal all of the important relationships among the chemical elements. For some uses however, we need to maximize these revelations by giving up some simplicity, and we wish from our teacher’s aspect to present what we may hope is an appealing way of doing precisely that. The periodic table needs to be rearranged into a different format then the original one. The periodic table has become an icon of science. Its rows and columns provide a tidy way of showcasing the elements and the ingredients that make up the universe. We are trying to sort different elements in different ways, that maybe are not normally thought of. According to the rubric given we are supposed to list the elements in an unbelievable and unthinkable way to the original. We are going to have to be creative with a new format and having the same elements listed. We must come up with an original design that is both creative and practical and use our knowledge on Solution Fluency and Collaboration Fluency to aid us in the process using our imagination and creativity to re-design the Periodic table. We are aimed to push beyond a basic structure and create a model that is interesting, informative, comprehensive, useful, and visually appealing. We will use teamwork, ideas and effort to compose our periodic table. At first glance Mendeleev’s table doesn’t look much like the one we are familiar with. For one thing, the modern table has a bunch of elements that Mendeleev overlooked (and failed to leave room for), most notably the noble gases (such as helium, neon, argon), and the table is oriented differently to our modern version, with elements we now place together in columns arranged in rows. It needs to make sense, and this is definitely a challenge to take on. It has to be mainly of the unthinkable and most of all it needs to be listed in the most simplest but most cleverest way possible, organized, clear and easy to read is what their aiming for us to do as well as what we want.
In your group, come up with some questions to research your curiosity before you brainstorm:
How can we design a Periodic Table for someone who is mentally disabled, and either can recognise or read the table?
What shapes, designs and model formats could we incorporate it into?
How will we get this done on time while maintaining our time, schedule, etc.…)?
Can we organize the table in a special way for people who can’t read or understand the Periodic Table?
Can the Periodic Table be organized by colour to help people who are colour blind find an element?
Is the Periodic Table commonly recognized?
What materials do we need to collect to make our project?
What would be the best shape to use?
What patterns are there on the periodic table?
Which patterns should be left untouched?
Which patterns should be replaced?
Which patterns can we build upon?
What materials do we have access to and can bring and use?
Why is the Periodic Table organized by Chemical Properties and Atomic Mass?
Does anyone in my group have any ideas on how to make our project original due to previous encounters with something similar?
In what format do we want to present our project?
How much in class time will we have to work on this project and how are we each going to individually going to contribute to it?
What do we like and not like about the elements on the table?
How can we make a unique table that is different then the original in an interesting way?
What is the organization of the periodic table based on? …
What is the most reactive family of metals?
What materials and/or tools do we have at the moment to aid us in the beginning process.
How do we know that every element on the earth is on the periodic table?
Which of the non-metals are gasses? Why is the bottom half not included in the rest of the table?
Why are some of the symbols not the first letters of the elements?
Should the table be in 3D?
How can this help us learn and get a better understanding of the periodic table?
What types of information do we need to research for this project?
Will other people understand the way that we organized it?
Would the legend be clear enough to understand where everything is?
How could we make it visually appealing to the eye?
How do we know that every element on the earth is on the periodic table?
Why is the bottom half not included in the rest of the table?
Why are some of the symbols not the first letters of the elements?
How can we demonstrate our understanding of patterns and properties of elements?
How will be efficient with our time on the web researching and comparing ideas.
Why are there two sections instead of having it all in one section
Why aren’t their any bohr diagrams on the table as they are very useful in terms of science?
In your group, Dream/Brainstorm: What information does the periodic table tell you? How could you arrange it differently based on its chemical and physical properties? What different shapes could be used? How can you use colour? (What innovative ideas do have about how this problem could be solved? Share creative, even wacky, dreams about the solution that go beyond the norm.
The periodic table is an arrangement of pure elements. The elements were placed according to their chemical and physical properties as well as their atomic numbers. Before we even start designing, we need to brainstorm and/or think of what our final product is going to end up as, we need to come up with as many ideas as possible. We had an idea that we could make it into a diamond and show the families, periods, and patterns as well as the ionic charges. A paper fan is another great and unique idea. Different, unique shapes we could use are: pentagons, creating a beehive or a pinecone like structure with round wide circles and ridged edges. We could even keep it simple and stick to squares, an array of triangles, we could take a wacky approach and turn our shapes into animals or bacteria and/or protist cells and idea that came out of the blue. Taking a more natural/subtle approach to it using potentially native symbols or a tree of life replication If we were to change the periodic table, we could color code it. We need to consider several other different factors too: boiling point, melting point, number of protons, electrons, neutrons, atomic mass, etc. We could also arrange the table by state at room temperature in alphabetical order. Our innovated and simplified periodic table will give anyone willing to learn about science a new perspective on an already perfected table consisting of all chemical elements. It will be organized, neat and colorful. We could put it into different patterns or shapes. Another thing we could try is arrange it according to the chemical properties such as radioactivity or toxicity. We want to make a form of the periodic table that anyone can pick up and use that is why when planning I have to take many considerations into account. I want to make it look fun and rejuvenating so that the average person could not be bored right/straight away at first glance. I want to grab the persons attention almost like a hook which could be another wacky design which we can use so that when the reader first looks at it they are easily being pulled in. I like trying different things that no one real sees even being considered a periodic table maybe making a wheel of elements, or a tower of elements which each floor is a different element. Personally, I think we need to go beyond the normal to even going from a two-dimensional shape to even a three-dimensional shape. We may also try to arrange it by physical properties such as like color or state. We could arrange the elements by sub-grouping them by alkaline metals, alkaline earth metals, transition metals, post transition metals, metalloids, lanthanides, actinides, halogens, noble gases, and other gases alphabetically in separate sections. Color is a simple and efficient way to show our discoveries and learning through our table. The shape that we can even use to represent our periodic table could even be a pyramid. Some information the table gives us is the names of elements and their symbols, how many protons and electrons there are in each element, the ionic charge(s) of these elements, the mass of the elements, and the different families and periods this could all be used. A way we can rearrange the table is in a circle, showing and layering the elements of each family on top of each other. This way we can show the number of shells in these elements. Some things that we could colour code would be metals and none metals. Colours could also define if it is a gas, liquid etc. Each section(family)could have its own colour. A way we can rearrange the table is in a circle, showing layering elements of a family on top of each other. This way we can show the number of shells in these elements. We are trying to keep most of the other information the original table gives us but making it easier to read and understand. The different shapes that could be used octagons, circles, rectangles, triangles and any other shape you can think of. We really want to take a more natural approach maybe even using native symbols to propose a more earth like table instead of the plain and natural outdated one, symbols like arrows, family circles, and/or dragonflies. We could even do the city where Dmitri Mendeleev is from (Tobolsk Russia) and outline the city, this was a wacky idea that came to my mind. I really like the bohr-diagram to be included on the table as it makes everything easily accessible on the table. There you have it our dreaming portion of this project.
With your partner, DESIGN:
What is your plan? Demonstrate an accurate and full understanding of the properties and patterns of elements.
Our plan is to arrange and organize our new Periodic Table by exploring the physical properties of elements. The plan we have all brainstormed together and decided to execute is a unique and interesting table that is in the shape of a monument/tower from the hometown of Dmitri Mendeleev taking on a tower like shape that is going to be done on paper and is two-dimensional. I wanted to make a form of the periodic table that anyone can pick up and use that is why when planning I had to take many considerations into account. I made it look fun and rejuvenating so the average person could not be bored right away at the first glance. I wanted to grab the persons attention when they first looked at it is trying different things that no one real sees like making a wheel of elements, or a tower of elements which each floor is a different element. Personally, I think the periodic table that we are going to create is going to be very easy to read and I have never seen one that looks like this one. With this thought in my mind we knew we had to represent interconnectedness but also diversity of elements in our final product. So that each element will be clearly identified and connected to a family and consists of other elements with similar properties. Our periodic table is organized alphabetically from 1 being hydrogen to 118. We used a variety of colors to represent the different families in the periodic table. We will use color to show the state of the element at room temperature (20°C). We will use other colors to show what kinds of elements they are. For example, we will have different colors to distinguish categories such as alkali metals, metalloids, noble gases, etc. This is the designing portion of our project.
This is a list of the materials needed for the overall design of our project and the overall contributions that will be made.
Materials: White cardstock paper, white paper, scissors, a sharpie, a hot glue gun, a glue stick, coloring materials, ruler, pencils, erasers, fine liners, calculator, white out, original periodic table, pencils, and fine liners.
Ryan will be working on 90 of the elements meanwhile Connor does 20, Ahmed does 10, and Eashan, Ahmed, and Connor will be working on a rough draft in terms of work. (The elements include writing all the information, drawing models and coloring each element)
By yourself: DELIVER
We have created a periodic table in alphabetical order to more easily get a represent a new and improved periodic table. There was another option that we were attempting to use to show off the periodic table in a new and exciting, using a tree. The tree would have been split into a few broad sections to easily locate all of the elements, metals down the trunk and into the roots and earth, taking up most of the space. There would have also been a group for the non-metals in the branches of the tree as well as metalloids between the two. These broad groupings, specifically the metals and non-metals would then be split into smaller grouping based on family such as the alkaline and alkaline earth metals for the metals, and the noble gasses and halogens for the non-metals. The problem we had with this idea was that we couldn’t fit all of the elements into an organized fashion based on the limited space we had for this first draft and if we had ended up sticking to this idea, the end product may have looked very disorganized and it also may have been very difficult to understand if it was all clumped up like that. The next layout we decided to produce was then the one we decided we were going to use as it is a very simple and easy to understand design that is organized in a very simple way and is very clear how its organized, a tower. The reason we decided to go with this simple yet effective design is because it would be a lot easier to fit all the elements in an organized and easy to read manor and it would still look very nice. The way we organized it was very similar to the way we were planning to organize the tree originally. We split in up into two sections, metals on the bottom half of the tower, and the gases at the top of the tower. The metals were split up into sub sections as well as the non-metals. Ryan wanted to make this, so we let him and he used a large piece of paper and many pencils as well as pencil crayons to separate the different elements by the period in which they reside and he colored them in accordingly as well as putting in some information that isn’t on the periodic table such as the neutron, electron, and proton count. The final product ended up being nineteen stories tall, as hydrogen, which can be considered as both an alkaline metal and a halogen, it was isolated in it’s own floor at the very bottom of the tower. Other information on this new and improved periodic table was the words “Our Fresh Periodic Table” at the top to, a legend on the bottom left hand side of the paper to show what all of the colors on the table mean to anyone who may not know. There is also a model on the bottom right hand side of the paper showing how all of the information is put into the boxes.
By yourself: DELIVER
Looking back at the product we have produced, I think we did do a pretty good job creating a new periodic table. We started off with a problem that needed solving, creative a periodic table, that we worked towards achieving by using the five D’s to give us some stepping stone along the way. After the first step was done we moved on to discovering what approach we want to take to this problem and any information we may need such as a list of the elements or what was would be best to organize the table in. After this step was done, we all had a dream, a dream of what we can accomplish in the future based on the information we have stockpiled to created and produce a product. We tried to cover any base we could in this dream, such as the color combination of the element or if we were even going to use color in the first place. After this it was time to design our product, going over different ideas along with our dream to make this periodic table the best it could be, some ideas may have been better than others, but the idea of this step was to go over all of our options before making a rational decision about which plan we would go with in the long run, weather it’s adding more feature, removing unnecessary ones, or going with a new design. When we eventually chose a design, we then have to follow through and produce or product, our first design seemed very promising and would have looked great if done correctly, but there was not enough space, so we went with our next idea, which was perfect for us as a group and we made the product look and work great in the end. Overall, this product tuned out very well in my eyes.