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I always start talking about the periodic table through exercises focusing on pattern finding. This Periodic Aliens activity was created by John Bergmann and Jeff Christopherson and is beautifully captured in this powerpoint presentation that has been floating around the internet. In an effort to make sure that it was preserved and also make a few tweaks of my own to make it more customizable (and virtual if needed) I rebuilt the activity. The activity is largely unchanged though so they get all the credit for how awesome this task is. :)  The Challenge
If students are confused about how it can be possible to figure out the identity of cards that they have never seen, I find the following analogy useful:
The Alien DeckIn recreating the original activity, I wanted to clean up the original images a little bit and make them editable in case I ever wanted to add new designs to the same general alien shape. In the process, I ended up making two versions, one with 40 cards and one with 15 cards. The original intent of the smaller deck was to make it a less cluttered version to use online (see the jamboard at the end of this post) but I could also see a scenario where a shorter version of this activity could be useful.
Set UpTo prep this activity, you will want to print and cut a set of cards for each group. They are arranged in their grid in this file so if you want to put the students to work and have them cut them out, make sure you print out the "scrambled" version so it doesn't give away the patten :)
Activity VariationsThere are several ways that you can use these cards in class. I typically do a combination of #2 and #3 and I use the extra challenges to keep groups engaged until the very end of the activity since students will get through this task at very different speeds. Activity #1 - Organize the Aliens Provide all groups with the entire deck of cards and ask them to organize the cards into a grid with patterns/groupings that appear in both the vertical and horizontal directions
For the 15 card variation, I have included a set of 5 bonus cards that students can try to place around their 3x5 grid in locations that maintain the existing patterns in their organizational structure. These cards have a red line to make it easier to pull them out if needed.  How it EndsWhen I do this activity, I don't have anything for students to submit to me. Instead, they call me over when they are ready to get their prediction checked. My ultimate goal is that every group has an opportunity to solve the puzzle so I will provide extra tasks for any groups that get done early. By the end, some groups will have several post-its with "newly discovered" aliens while others will have just finished predicting the two that were missing from the beginning. SolutionsThere are a bunch of different patterns to be found! Here are patterns that I had in mind with the grid organization shown. These aren't the only way to think about it but it can be helpful to have a picture when walking around and observing.   Connecting it to Science
In this activity, students get to take an incomplete set and find patterns that allow them to "discover" aliens that they never got access to in the first place. Basically, they become the Mendeleev of these random stick figure aliens that they've never seen before! ;) FilesI've tried to include all of the files that I think could be useful to run or modify this activity. If you have any questions or requests, please leave a comment below! Cards to Print - sets of cards ready to print and cut
Grids - one page layouts
Solutions
Editable Alien Drawings
Click for more Periodic Table resources ⬇
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Joe CossetteFather, Physics Teacher, Knowles Fellow, Friend, Techie, and Musician Blog Posts |
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