Interactive Learning Paradigms, Incorporated

How the Periodic Table Challenge Works

Intro and Philosophy

The Periodic Table Challenge is an interactive web-based teaching resource that features a blank periodic table. Originally there were two versions - the Classic Challenging Version in which the user had to complete a blank table before receiving a score and the Easier Instant Version in which the user receives feedback immediately after filling in each element. The original Classic version was put on hiatus in February of 2023 when we moved to a new server architecture and may come back when we rewrite the script for it.

I designed the Classic Version for my upper division courses in which the student must know the periodic table. I didn't say "memorize", although that's what it may appear to be. But in order to write essays you have to know the alphabet, right? If you are attending a chemistry seminar and someone mentions an iron-containing compound, you have to know that Fe is in 8th column over, has some chemistry similar to Ru and has 5 d-electrons if it is in the 3+ valence state.

OK, here's how it works

The Classic Challenging Version:

  1. The Periodic Challenge page contained two very important components which may not be immediately obvious. First, the page is an HTML form which means that it is configured to send any data that you might enter to our web server. Second, the blank periodic table is displayed as an HTML table. The boxes where you enter your answers are form input fields which permit only 0 to 2 characters of input. Theis is the kind of stuff you can figure out by viewing the source of the web page.
  2. When you hit the Submit button, our web server's form parser would your data to the results page. There, a JavaScript routine graded your results. All it has to do is compare the name of the box you filled in to the value you entered. If they matched then you're correct. If the two don't match then you're incorrect. If you didn't put in an answer, then that is noted, too. In programming terms, the grading is a simple "with x = 1 to 118" loop and the rest is just table formatting and extras like the hints/comments or an occasional graphic.

The Easier Instant Version:

As with the Challenging Classic Version, everything is set up as an HTML table. But this time, the data is not submitted and then redrawn. Instead, as soon as you enter your guess for an element, a JavaScript routine immediately checks the answer and adjusts your score. If you answer is wrong, the script replaces the wrong answer with a "*" so you can identify which ones are not yet correct.

In addition, this version sports an auto-hints feature. When this is turned on, you'll receive a popup dialog if you have guessed wrong more than 3 or more times on a particular element. The hint is the first letter of the element if the element symbol has two letters. If the element symbol has only one letter, the hint tells you so.

Another nice touch in this version is that it tells you the number of incorrect attempts you have made. After all, anyone can get all 118 elements, but only the best will do it without making any mistakes. I have also added a timer which stops when the table is correctly completed. This enables our visitors to have a contest to see who can complete the table with the fewest errors in the shortest amount of time. To make the determination of a winner fair, I suggest adding a predefined time penalty (5 or 10 seconds) for each incorrect answer; this is a feature I can add at a later date.

Revision History

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