Click on the picture to go back to playing the game.

Getting Started

The "Kids for Chemistry program" teaches the most important concepts of chemistry. It is focus on the first twenty atoms of the Periodic Table, ions, acids and bases, oxidation and reduction, and the preliminaries of organic chemistry. A series of animated websites are provided to help students learn the chemistry needed to play the "Kids for Chemistry The Game". The first website gives a brief description of how to play the game.

When you are first learning Kids for Chemistry, it is recommended that you start playing the game without answering any of the questions. Move around the board as described in section, Playing The Kids for Chemistry The Game, and learn to identify atoms from section Identifying the First Twenty Atoms by S & P Orbits. After you have an idea of the methodology for identify atoms you can move on.

The websites are numbered and provides the order that students should view the websites. However, students can view the sites that they are interested in at any time. The animations are a fantastic tool to help students visualize the chemistry that is going on.

At this point, it is recommended that you start off with section 2, "Why does the Buzzer Buzz?" This experiment is the spark for the students curiosity about chemistry. In the process of trying to figure out why the buzzer buzzes when you add table salt, students learn about the first twenty atoms of the Periodic Table, ions, acids and bases, oxidation and reduction, and the preliminaries of organic chemistry. As you view each section, you get more and more information that leads you to the answer for why does the buzzer buzz. TRY NOT TO SKIP TO SECTION 21, THE BUZZER EXPERIMENT! See if you can figure out why the buzzer buzzes before you go to this section.

Also provided are links for each molecule that is used in the game.

As you view each section, you will become more knowledgeable about the chemistry involved in the game. And you will be able to start answering the questions on the fundamental and advance cards. Now you can start using the cards when you play the game. Kids for Chemistry The Game is the first game ever designed that allows you to have fun while learning chemistry. So Have Fun!

Pilot Studies

Kids for Chemistry has been successful as early as fifth grade and all the way up to college and adults level. To see some results from pilot studies visit the following links:

Pemberton Pilot Study - Fifth and Sixth Grade

Penn State University Pilot Study

Higher Levels of Learning

While playing "Kids for Chemistry The Game", students are expose to the higher level cognitive processes that are identified in the Bloom’s Taxonomy. The Bloom’s Taxonomy is a classification of the six levels of the thinking (cognitive) process. The six cognitive processes are: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. They are described below. The fundamental and advance cards are not just a matter of easy and hard questions. The fundamental cards contain questions that consists of the first two levels, knowledge and comprehension. The advance cards contain questions that consists of the remaining four levels, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. Kids for Chemistry The Game takes all six levels into consideration.

Bloom’s Taxonomy (The Cognitive Process)

Taxonomy Level	Related Verbs	General Description
1) Knowledge (Remembering Facts)	Remember, recall, identify, recognize	Memorizing facts
2) Comprehension (Understanding Concepts)	Translate, rephrase, restate, interpret, describe, explain	Explaining in one’s own words
3) Application (Applying Procedures)	Apply, execute, solve, implement	Solving new problems
4) Analysis	Breakdown, categorize, distinguish, compare	Breaking into parts and identifying relationships
5) Synthesis	Integrate, organize, relate, combine, construct, design	Combining elements into a whole
6) Evaluation	Judge, assess, value, appraise	Judging quality or worth

In addition to the six cognitive processes, content knowledge was also taken into account. There are three types of knowledge, factual knowledge, conceptual knowledge, and procedural knowledge. They are described below. These three types of knowledge are tied in with the cognitive processes mentioned above. You can think of the types of knowledge as a noun, and the cognitive processes as a verb. And just like every sentence needs a noun and a verb, so does every objective need to consider the type of knowledge and the cognitive process. It is important to realize that "Kids for Chemistry The Game" is more than just a game. It is just like a curriculum that has an objective and a lesson plan. Objectives should contain both a description of the process the students are expected to learn and the type of knowledge they are expected to learn. Combining both the process and content into the objective, brings about clarity and helps teachers to refine their intent, guide their instructions and develop their assessment. Test can easily be made, to assess student's performance, consisting of questions from the fundamental and advance cards, which takes into account both the cognitive process and the content knowledge.

Three Types of Knowledge

Types of Knowledge	Related Nouns	General Descriptions
Factual	Terminology, names, facts, definitions, dates	Knowledge of specifics facts
Conceptual	Classifications, categories, generalizations, theories, principles	Knowledge of concepts and categories
Procedural	Methods, criteria, recipes, algorithms, strategies, steps in a process	Knowledge of how to apply methods and procedures

Kids for Chemistry Rubric

The rubric below shows the first two levels of what will be learned while playing Kids for Chemistry The Game. There are actually more level and lessons that are being developed. These levels will be easily incorporated into the games lesson plan.

Core Curriculum Content Standards

Kids for Chemistry The Game also takes into account the core curriculum content standards. Core curriculum content standards are an attempt to define what all students should know and be able to do upon completion of a thirteen-year public education. The standards are the basis for long-term global objectives. The global objective for science as described in the Standard is as follows: All students will gain an understanding of the structure and behavior of matter. This global objective can be broken down into more specific educational objectives and by the end of grade 12, students should know the following:

1) Know that atoms consist of a nucleus surrounded by electrons, and that the arrangement of the electrons determines the chemical behavior of each element.

2) Know that the nucleus consists of protons and neutrons, and that each atom of a given element has the same number of protons, but that the number of neutrons may vary.

3) Explain how atoms can form bonds to other atoms by transferring or sharing electrons.

4) Demonstrate different types of chemical reactions and the various factors affecting reaction rates.

5) Explain how the Periodic Table of Elements evolved and how it relates atomic structure to the physical and chemical properties of the elements.

Links for Kids for Chemistry The Game

Getting Started-Read Me First

1) Playing The Kids for Chemistry The Game

2) Why does the Buzzer Buzz?

3) Protons, Neutrons and Electrons - What atoms are made of.

4) Learn about S and P Orbits

5) More about S orbits

6) More about P orbits - Three Dimensional Space - The P Orbital Rule

7) 3 Dimensional Picture of S and P orbits