Peer Review

The Periodic Table of Elements

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Mar 10, 2011 by Chemistry

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: This is a page from the Vision Learning compendium describing the periodic table and providing relevant links to more sophisticated sites associated with various elemental properties, such as webelements.com.
Type of Material:: This is a text html page with links to a small number of animations. It functions as a tutorial with external links appearing in independent windows in the browser.
Recommended Uses:: To introduce students to the nature and history of the periodic table. This is a relatively cleanly written page, albeit without attempting to give the students the knowledge that the electron is a wavefunction, not an orbiting object. The site as such leaves the student with the impression that the Bohr model is still correct.
Technical Requirements:: The independent links (those that appear in independent windows) require flash for animations to appear and function correctly.
Identify Major Learning Goals:: Introduces the periodic table of the elements and electron configuration. There is some attempt to indicate that the electrons are located in different shells but there is little deeper information given (i.e. relating to orbital types, orientation, electron spin etc.)
Target Student Population:: The material is pitched at the level of 1st year high school students.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: There are no prerequisites for understanding this material. The students should however have some basic understanding of electrical charge.

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: The site is well laid out, graphically pleasing, and provides useful and relevant links to other periodic table sites and sites associated with the history of the periodic table.
Concerns:: This is just an introductory module. Concepts are not covered in depth. Most of the content is static except animation of the electron cofiguration of the 11
first elements of the periodic table. No explanation is given as to why the electrons are not attracted back into the nucleus or why electrons will 'fall' back from higher energy levels to the most stable level. The animations are clever, but misleading as the students will be left with the solid impression that electrons are objects orbiting the nucleus .... the Bohr model. This is a difficult issue to transfer to 1st year students, but some attempt should be made or at least a caveat presented that states that this is only an early model and more advanced mathematics will be required to understand the current models. Some information re: size of the nucleus vs. atom should be given as well .... it is absent.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:: Has combined in one place a series of useful links to all aspects from the technical to the historical associated with the periodic table.
Concerns:: The animations cover only the 1st 11 elements which is okay, albeit limited. The site is overwhelmed by the link to webelements.com which is a much more advanced site. Once users go to the latter site, they are unlikely to return. The depth of the explanations is very shallow and misleading or uninformative i.e. balance of electrostatic attraction vs. centripetal force.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:: The site is very clean in appearance and easy to navigate. The animations which appear in separate windows are extremely clean and well done.
Concerns:: The links pop up other windows which cause the student to drift away from the original site and to lose focus. The animations are so excellent, they should appear in the same window. One statement suggests that extra information about the element will appear in a separate frame. Frame architecture has largely disappeared from web sites and this shows the age of the site and points to the lack of maitenance of the site ....an admittedly tedious and difficult task in the fast paced environment of the web.

Other Issues and Comments:: This is in reality one page from the large commercial product of vision learning. The user should really go to the vision learning site for a more complete overview of what is offered by this web page producer. The products have a very professional look and feel.
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