Periodic Table interactive formula

This is an interactive powerpoint. It avoids the ‘powerpoint lecture trap’ which teachers can fall into.

It contains just one slide, but from it you can practise working out 144 chemical formulae of binary compounds using the groups of the Periodic Table.

The programme itself requires macros to be enabled (in powerpoint: tools/macro/security, and set to medium) before it will run in the way intended. This is explained on a help screen in the ppt.

>>Download the powerpoint PTformulainteractive

This is what the ppt slide looks like

This is conceptually challenging and A/A* standard at GCSE. Any student capable of doing this is on the way to A-level standard.

I have found this use of powerpoint ideal for interactive boards. It is in effect an open-ended worksheet. Pupils can of course use it individually or in pairs with laptops.

What made this activity go well

Students automatically think that chemistry is about symbols and equations, and want to engage with this. Yet so little is taught or required at GCSE that on the few occasions they encounter it, they find it a fog of confusion. This was an attempt to allow classes to get to grips with the patterns that lie behind chemical formulae.

I found it enabled my classes to use the Periodic Table in a predictive manner. It empowered them to work with patterns and gave them confidence that chemical formulae are not so difficult to do.

I have also used it in a bridging lesson for AS Chemistry since knowledge of chemical formulae has all but disappeared from GCSE Science/ Additional Science.

Last updated: 12 June 2008