Elemental Journal (Science Discovery Guide)

Chemistry is an interesting topic and now you can introduce your junior high students to the elements in a fun and interactive way. Using the Elemental Journal, Periodic Table of Videos (free at periodicvideos.com), the Periodic Table: Elements with Style (#062046), and the Elements: Building Blocks of the Universe (#052403). Together, these books and videos will engage your students as they research, write and catalog 42 of the 144 known elements. An optional resource is the Elements by Theodore Gray (#059369), which is a favorite of mine beautiful and engaging it will enhance your study! Easy to use with a group or individual, every section of the book is formatted the same. The journal is 51 pages (consumable and not reproducible), and is divided into elemental groups: alkali, alkaline, transition, boron, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, halogens, noble gases, lanthanides & actinides, and superheavies (elements 104-112). Complete an introduction to elements by reading the required pages (page numbers are referenced) in Periodic Table: Elements with Style and Elements: The Building Blocks of the Universe, fill in the information and now you're ready to begin your study of the elemental groups. Every group begins with a reading assignment that gives general information about that group and students are asked to research the required and recommended resources and write a paragraph about their discoveries. Students are then asked to fill in the element data, draw a picture and write 3 interesting facts about the element. Then watch the video on the particular element and summarize the information from the video into a few sentences. There are from 1 to 5 elements in each group. The journal tells you a specific one to do in each group then you get to choose the others in which are you interested? As a companion for the Elemental Journal the videos, taught by a team of ten expert scientists and staff from the University of Nottingham (a colorful group of knowledgeable characters) teach you about the elements. Each video shows how the element is used, its familiar forms and more. The fun demonstrations will show things you might never see except in their controlled setting, such as exploding a hydrogen-filled balloon. Besides the videos referenced in the journal, you can also watch videos for the other elements and a variety of other informative chemistry/science videos. We watched them just for fun! I mentioned earlier that you could use this as an introductory course at the junior high level. Don't limit yourself to that! This could be used at either the junior high or high school level as a companion to your curriculum. Of note with the Elemental Journal specific pages in the ©2007 edition of Periodic Table: Elements of Style (#026107) are referenced and required. This book is now out of print and has been replaced by the ©2015 Complete Periodic Table: More Elements with Style (#062046). Page numbers are different, but you can print out a PDF file with the cross-referenced pages of the old and new versions of this book. If you want to do deeper research in any given area, you may want to go to the library or spend time on the Internet, but the resources given here will really get you off to a good start in understanding the elements of the Periodic Table. ~ Donna