Periodic Table Project Blog (10/2-10/6)

Summary:

During this project, I learned a lot about the structure of the periodic table. The columns or families in the periodic table need to have similar properties and show periodicity, meaning that there is a gradual change as you move up or down. In the periodic table, this gradual change is in the number of energy levels with electrons. Each row also has a name which describes the elements in that row. For example, the first row consists of alkali metals. The rows or periods are arranged by atomic number, which is the number of protons. The atomic number is also increasing. As you move down the period, there is an increasing number of outer electrons. The atomic mass, the number of protons added with the number of neutrons, is also increasing. 

I also learned how to identify the elements and how each element is displayed on the periodic table. There are four important pieces of information that you can gather about each element. The atomic number is on the top of the element. Under that is the chemical symbol, a symbol for the element. There there is the element name, simply the name of the element, and lastly, there is the atomic mass, the number of protons plus the number of neutrons in the elements' atoms.

Backward-Looking

What process did you go through to produce this piece?

To produce this piece, first, we had to learn about the periodic table and the different ways that it was organized and the patterns that it displayed. Then, we had to choose our topic and what we wanted to organize into a periodic table. Once we chose Olympians, we had to do a lot of research into which athlete fit into our table and how we should organize them. Before we created our periodic table, we made sure that we had all of the components first. We started writing our abstract which explains how we organized it and how it relates to the topic. We also created a key which shows how we organized each element. After that, we had to physically create our periodic table and organize it onto a poster.

Inward-Looking

How do you feel about this piece of work? What parts of it do you particularly like? Dislike? Why? What did/do you enjoy about this piece or work

I feel really good about this piece of work. I think we did a good job on it and I especially like our periodic table topic and how we organized it by country and sport. I did not dislike anything about this topic, and I think it really helped me understand the periodic table and the ways that it is organized so that it makes sense and it is easy to understand. I really enjoyed brainstorming our ideas and how to organize it because it lead us to understanding how we should organize our periodic table. I also enjoy how our periodic table has pictures of the athletes to create a visual of each 'element.'

Outward-Looking

Did you do your work the way other people did theirs? In what ways did you do it differently? In what ways was your work or process similar?

We did our work similar to the way that other people did theirs because most people planned it out before on a table on google docs so that you could see the different rows and columns. We also did a lot of research about our topic which other people did as well. Some things that we did differently were that other groups did a visual on paper instead of on a computer so that it was easier to see and understand.We did ours differently than most people because we made sure that we had everything we needed on our periodic table before we started putting it onto a poster and organizing it. Everyone also chose different topics, so every group has theirs a little bit different.

Forward Looking

What's the one thing that you have seen in your classmates' work or process that you would like to try in your next piece?

One thing that I have seen in my classmates' work that I would like to try is to create a visual on paper so that it is easier to see and understand the different parts of the periodic table. I might try this because it was easier to see the periodic table than on the computer. I also saw some groups cut out the different squares and move them around to see patterns in the data and the elements. This was good because they got to see different patterns and changes in the data which you would not be able to see otherwise.