Thursday, February 16, 2012

The Mole Survivor

In my general chemistry class today we played a challenge review game based upon the TV show Survivor.  Students were put into tribes yesterday, complete with colors for their teams and a team name.  They were able to choose a team name from a list of group names from the periodic table: The Alkali Metals, The Alkaline Earth Metals, The Carbon Family, The Halogens, or The Noble Gases.  They made headbands to show their team spirit as well.
For today's part, each group was given a set of white boards where each white board required a certain step of a molar conversion.  They calculated an answer, and when it was correct, they got an element card and a new question.  Once they had 5 questions right and all of their element cards, the teams put their element cards in order of increasing atomic radius (a review from a past unit).  The Carbon Family ended up winning, and teams got small prizes for first place and most team spirit.
They seemed somewhat skeptical at first yesterday, but I was so excited about it that I think they decided to play along.  In the end, I think they enjoyed the review, especially since it was a break from simply working problems!

1 comment: