Elements

Concept Attainment Activity

Introduction

Introduce students to the concept of elements using the fun-filled, thought-provoking method of concept attainment. In concept attainment, students look at examples of items that contain attributes of the concept and compare them to examples that do not contain attributes of the concept. They separate them into two groups; “yes examples, those that contain attributes of the concept, and no examples or nonexamples, those that do not contain attributes of the concept. The students look for connections between the “yes examples, in this case words on a set of cards, and then develop the concept themselves. Once they have discovered the concept, the proper terminology can be assigned. For example, the students may develop the concept that all the words are the names of cities that contain the seat of government for a state; the terminology assigned to this would be state capitals. In this activity, the examples are all elements.

Concepts

  • Elements
  • Atoms

Background

All matter is composed of elements, which are substances that cannot be separated into different substances except by nuclear disintegration. Elements are substances that are made entirely of one type of atom. Elements can be solids, liquids or gases at standard temperature and pressure (STP). Most of the naturally occurring elements are solid at STP, but two are liquids (Hg and Br) and 11 are gases. Most of the naturally occurring elements are metals; although, some are classified as nonmetals or metalloids. Of the first 92 elements in the periodic table, two are synthetic. Those elements above uranium are synthetic and all are called transuranic elements.

Materials

Concept attainment cards, 20
No cards, 2
Yes cards, 2

Safety Precautions

Although the materials in this activity are considered nonhazardous, please follow all normal laboratory safety guidelines.

Disposal

The items in this kit are meant to be reused and should be stored for future use.

Prelab Preparation

  1. On the wall, whiteboard or chalkboard, place the yes and no header cards so that the yes examples will be on the left and the no examples will be on the right.
  2. Stack the cards in the following order:

    Gold, Carbon Dioxide, Nitrous Oxide, Silver, Platinum, Isopropyl Alcohol, Nickel, Copper, Water, Tungsten, Mercury, Sand, Iron, Helium, Bronze, Brass, Neon, Steel, Carbon, Uranium

Procedure

  1. Tell the students that the cards with either examples or nonexamples of a concept will be shown.
  2. Point to the yes header and tell the students that examples of the concept will be placed on the left, under the yes" header card.
  3. Point to the “no header and tell the students that non-examples will be placed on the right, under the no” header card.
  4. Tell the students that each time a card is help up they are to vote. If the students think the example is a yes” then they should point their right thumb up and if they think it is a no” they should point it down or some other appropriate form of voting. Everyone should vote for every card, to ensure total participation.
  5. Show the students the first card that says Gold. Tell the students that the first example is always a yes” example and place it under the yes” header.
  6. Show them the second card that says Carbon Dioxide. Tell the students that the second example is always a no.” At this point it should be clear whether the students understand how to vote and where all the examples will be placed. This is a good time to remind them that all examples under the yes” have some similar attributes that combine to form a specific concept. The items under the no” do not necessarily have similar attributes. The nonexamples do not contain the attributes that exemplify the concept and are not necessarily, as a group, another concept.
  7. Continue placing the cards under the appropriate header in the order in which they are stacked. Remind students that they should not vocalize the attributes of the concept or the concept itself; they should just vote using the appropriate method. Students will form their own hypothesis regarding the concept and revise this hypothesis every time there is a change in the trends of the data. One trend in this activity that changes is that all the examples, at standard temperature and pressure, are solid metals, and then a liquid metal, Mercury, is revealed.
  8. When students seem to know the concept, ask them to give another example of the concept—not the concept itself. This works well before a change occurs in the data trends.
  9. When most students seem to know the attributes of the concept, list them on the board. As more examples are shown they may want to refine the attributes.
  10. Once the students have discovered that the objects are each made of one type of atom, introduce the term element.

Teacher Tips

  • As students think they have the concept write their examples on the board or on note cards and place them under the yes header card.
  • Attributes could be written on the board and reevaluated every few rounds to allow students to see how the trends in the data change. Allow students to present the attributes.
  • Masking tape, magnetic tape or hook and loop fasteners can be applied to each card so they may be temporarily attached to surfaces.
  • This activity may be presented after the lesson on elements to test for understanding, instead of as an introduction.
  • Bronze, brass and steel are all alloys. Bronze is an alloy of copper and tin. Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon.

Sample Data

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