JSSS
Teacher Support Material
Periodic table - revision
This exercise has been adapted from Chemical misconceptions - prevention, diagnosis and cure
(ISBN 0-85404-381-0), written by Keith Taber, The Royal Society of Chemistry Fellow 20002001. This book includes many useful classroom activities that can be used to identify student
misconceptions, and to help students construct chemical concepts.
The exercise below is based on concept mapping. It provides a concept map for the periodic
table, with links labelled with numbers. Students are asked to supply sentences to match the
links. Below are some suggested sentences that relate to each of the numbers on the diagram.
They are not the only sentences that are valid.
1
The periodic table is made up of lots of elements
2
Elements are composed of atoms
3
Each element has a different atomic number
4
Each element in the periodic table is arranged by atomic number
5
Each atom has an atomic number
6
Each element is made up of only one chemical substance
7
A compound is a single substance that can not be broken down easily into its elements
8
Compounds are formed when two or more elements react together
9
An atom has a central nucleus
10
A nucleus contains protons
12
Electrons are the negatively charged particles in an atom
13
The electrons are arranged in shells
14
Not in the picture
15
Get rid of
16
The elements are arranged in rows in the periodic table
17
The rows of elements are called periods
18
The atomic number increases as you go across a period
19
The elements are arranged in columns in the periodic table
20
The columns of elements are called groups
21
Groups of elements usually have similar chemical properties
22
An element’s chemical properties are related to the number of electrons in their outside shell
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