games/puzzles

Ion Chip Challenge: A Brain Break for Chemistry Classrooms

The Ion Chip Challenge is an interactive brain break game where students play rock-paper-scissors to exchange electron chips, helping them understand ion formation by addressing common misconceptions about positive and negative charges. This engaging activity combines movement and social interaction, making chemistry concepts more accessible and reinforcing that ions are formed through the transfer of electrons, not protons.

Turning Element Abbreviations into a Strategic Exercise

Various types of puzzles are widely used in STEM learning activities due to their ability to familiarize students with given content using a strategic approach. In this novel puzzle, there are two steps to complete the exercise. The first step involves the participant identifying periodic table element abbreviations within a specific word. The second step involves fitting the corresponding element names into a blank crossword format. The students become familiar with the elements and their abbreviations, as well as their location on the periodic table.