Pathfinder: Elements

Step 1: Define your task: Look at the assignment/essential question.

Step 2: What materials might be useful for the project? Books, Encyclopedias, Online Encyclopedias, Websites.

Step 3: Find the material.

Suggestions:

• Books about elements – these have been placed on a cart.
• Encyclopedias: World Book Encyclopedia: R 030 Wor.
• Online Encyclopedias: Grolier’s New book of Popular Science has an alphabetical listing of the elements that lists basic information about each element and information on sources, uses, and biological significance.
• Online Databases: Gale’s Student Resource Center Gold includes several Gale science encyclopedias. Be sure to look at the Chemical Elements: From Carbon to Krypton in the Gale Virtual Reference Library. The Science Resource Center includes reference material, magazines, academic journals, newspapers, and more. Search by your specific element.
• Websites: The following websites have interactive periodic tables :

Chemicool Periodic Table with links for every element: http://www-tech.mit.edu/Chemicool/

Fast Periodic Table http://resources.schoolscience.co.uk/ICI/periodictable/periodictable.html from Britain's Association for Science Education

Chemical Elements.com:  An Online, Interactive Periodic Table of the Elements:  http://www.chemicalelements.com/ Note: This site was designed by an eighth grader, but it is very useful. Consider verifying the information elsewhere.

Jefferson Lab’s It’s Elemental: http://education.jlab.org/itselemental/index.html

Visual Elements http://www.chemsoc.org/viselements/pages/pertable_j.htm from Britain's Royal Society of Chemistry. Basic information. A good place to start.

Periodic Table of the Elements from Los Alamos National Laboratories http://pearl1.lanl.gov/periodic/default.htm

Lenntech’s Periodic Table of the Elements:  http://www.lenntech.com/periodic-chart.htm provided by a Dutch chemical company. More advanced than other sites. Includes health effects information.

WebElements Periodic Table with links for every element http://www.webelements.com/

The Cyber-rific Periodic Table of the Elements from Bayer:  http://bayerus.com/msms/fun/pages/periodic/index.html

Environmental Chemistry.com’s Periodic Table of the Elements:  http://environmentalchemistry.com/yogi/periodic/

Chem4Kids(information on a limited number of elements) http://www.chem4kids.com/

element data from the American Chemical Society. http://center.acs.org/periodic/tools/PT.html Most of the data you need about elements.

The Cyber-rific Periodic Table of the Elements from Bayer:  http://bayerus.com/msms/fun/pages/periodic/index.html

The Periodic Table of the Elements from Chemical and Engineering News: http://pubs.acs.org/cen/80th/elements.html background information and some facts

• The following websites have additional material about elements:

Jefferson Lab’s All About Atoms: http://education.jlab.org/atomtour/index.html

Mathmol Activity Center – Mathmatics and Molecules: http://www.edinformatics.com/mathmol/

Techtopics: Matter: http://www.thetech.org/exhibits/online/topics/50a.html

Experiments on the Phases of Matter: http://www.galaxy.net/~k12/phases/

Step 4: Use the material. Read it and take notes. CITE YOUR SOURCES!!! Use the forms in the Library Learning Center in Blackboard or go to Citing Sources in the Hughes Library website.

Step 5: Synthesize the information: Prepare and present the skit, poster, power point, song, poem, or other approved product. PREPARE YOUR BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Step 6: Evaluate: Does the paper you wrote answer the essential question. Have you met the requirements for the assignment?

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Web Curator: Les.Jones@fcps.edu

Last Update: March 11, 2008

Web Page Designer: Kathy Noble