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Saturday, February 22 • 3:00pm - 4:00pm
For Primary - Atoms, Elements Atomic Numbers and The Periodic Table (71)

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We introduce these concepts in Year 1 or 2. Normally Atomic Number is defined as an atom’s nuclear charge, but because this requires an understanding of Atomic Structure, it is not normally taught until high school. However, the first historic definition of Atomic Number is the position of an atom on the list from lightest to heaviest. This definition is more easily grasped by primary aged students, even from Year 1. This then allows them to progress onto the Periodic Table, and beyond much earlier than they otherwise would have been able to. Because the Periodic Table is the key organising principle of Chemistry, understanding it early is hugely beneficial. Another wonderful, and somewhat unexpected, benefit is that primary students LOVE meeting the Periodic Table. We think this is because they can recognise many of the elements from their own experience, like oxygen and gold, while discovering new elements previously unheard of. We also provide a hands-on approach to the Periodic Table by allowing students to handle real elements, and gauge their relative weights by heft and then with more precise methods like balances and electronic scales. Activity: You will make your own strip that showing all 92 different kinds of atoms in the Universe, weight different atoms to showing the connection to their Atomic Numbers, and test the electrical conductivity of a metal (aluminium), semi-metal (silicon) and non-metal (sulfur). All of the world’s atoms fall into one of these three categories.

Speakers
avatar for Ian Stuart

Ian Stuart

Founder of Atomic School, The Atomic School
Ian Stuart if the founder of Atomic School. He taught chemistry in Queensland schools for more than 30 years. Around 2010 he started to realise that students as young as 4 years old could grasp the concepts of atomic theory, as long as they were taught in an age-appropriate manner... Read More →


Saturday February 22, 2020 3:00pm - 4:00pm PST
Sci 203

Attendees (7)