Combination Jigsaw and Gallery Walk activity

Tommaso A. Vannelli and Paul Frazey
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Initial Publication Date: December 31, 2016

Summary

This activity is intended to have students explore the fundamental concepts underlying the periodic trends discussed in the General Chemistry I (CHEM& 161) curriculum. In the past we have found that students can easily memorize the periodic trend, but have difficulty explaining it and understanding why there are exceptions to the trends. AS an alternative to the typical lecture period on these trends we have developed a combination Jigsaw activity followed by a Gallery Walk. In this activity each student will become an expert in one of the periodic trends and teach it to their colleagues in their "home group". They will then use this knowledge to answer a couple of challenge questions pertaining to common exceptions to or application of the periodic trends and present their answers to the class. Finally, students will participate in a Gallery Walk where they contribute to posters summarizing the periodic trends.

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Learning Goals

Students will be able to describe the 5 common periodic trends described in General Chemistry texts (atomic and ionic radii, ionization energies, electron affinity, and electronegativity) using principles of effective nuclear charge and orbital energy.

Students will be able to rationalize the observed exceptions to these trends using electron configuration energy concepts.

Students will be able to describe differences in the reactivity of some main group elements based on the periodic trends.

This activity will also expose students to peer learning, information literacy (research methods and source validation), synthesis of concepts to explain an observable, model development and application.

Students will also exercise their oral communication skills.

Context for Use

This activity works great in a small to medium sized class (up to 24 students) over the course of 2 class periods (~2h50min). It is intended to replace the lecture material on periodic trends (atomic and ionic radii, ionization energies, electron affinity, and electronegativity).

Description and Teaching Materials

The complete activity is described in the attached pdf document. Overall Description of Periodic Trends Activity (Acrobat (PDF) 453kB Nov28 16)




Teaching Notes and Tips


Assessment

Three assessments will be performed.
1) The group answers to the challenge questions.
2) The quality of the Gallery Walk posters.
3) Selected questions on a quiz and exam.

References and Resources