The First Twenty Elements - Self-Grading Google Sheet

Students sometimes have a tough time connecting with the Periodic Table. This sheet gives students the opportunity to practice identifying the first 20 elements on the Periodic Table in a place where they are sure when they get a problem correct! I find that the first 20 elements make up over 80% of the examples I use in class, so learning about these elements saves students time in the long run.

Covered in this sheet are:

Part 1: Identify the gases, find the group 1 members, list the metalloids.

Part 2: Given the symbol, come up with the name.

Part 3: Given information about an element, identify it. Ex. "This element is essential for life. It helps grow strong teeth and bones. It is found in milk and leafy greens. It is also found in the materials used to make "plaster of Paris"."

Answer: Calcium

Bonus fact: The average human contains about 1kg of calcium in their body!

Drop-down menus help make this assignment accessible to nearly every student.

Practice makes perfect and this self-grading sheet gives immediate feedback. The information will help your students connect to elements on the Periodic Table as they relate to their lives or things they know.

Make a copy to give students and keep the filled out sheet to use as your answer key, if needed. Discourage students from copying and pasting within the sheet. That copies the color changing rules as well as the values and will interfere with the colors changing properly: if they do copy/paste, "ctrl-z" (undo) will be your friend!

The sheet turns colors both locally and globally as well as keeps track of the student's total score (out of 50). When complete, the sheet will have visible text and a bright green border, as pictured in the main thumbnail picture.

Self-grading sheets have the advantages that students get immediate feedback for both correct and incorrect answers. They have the ability to self-correct on their own without teacher intervention. The color-changing features allow you to see the student's progress in preview panes that many LMS's have (like Google Classroom). Your grading load will go down as the completely correct sheets can be graded without even opening the student copies!

These sheets increase student engagement as they seek to get the colors to change.

Try it! You will like it.