Chemical Battleship: Discovering and Learning the Periodic Table Playing a Didactic and Strategic Board Game

Abstract

The periodic table is an essential topic in the teaching and learning of science at all education levels, as it contains information about the main physical and chemical properties of the different elements constituting the matter. However, becoming familiar with the facts behind the periodic table such as the element names and/or symbols, their metallic character, their electronegativity, and so on, may seem a tedious and boring task, depending on the approach the teacher uses. One way to stimulate students is through so-called gamification, in which learning occurs as an “almost undetected” consequence of playing a game. Of course, the game must be designed and prepared in such a way that the game and learning come together. In this work, we present Chemical Battleship, a chemical version of the classic board game Battleship, to learn the main topics contained in the periodic table and identify the common glassware of the lab. Additionally, using this game facilitates presenting the chemistry from a fun approach to certain educational levels. The periodic table itself is used to deploy the “fleet”, which is actually just labware. The “shots” must be “fired” by identifying the chemical element the player wants to fire at, and they must do so by using different properties of the element. Repeating this process, students get soon familiar with the periodic table and the information it contains, as well as with the lab glassware. Chemical Battleship was tested with elementary school students and third-year students in a Primary Education Teacher Degree program. Use of this game had a high acceptance from both groups, awakening students’ interest and curiosity in the first group and improving knowledge in the latter group. Students enhanced not only their subjective perception of their knowledge but also what they really know about the periodic table, as reflected in the improvement of their marks.