The teacher picks 45 elements from the first four periods plus familiar heavier metals such as silver, tin and lead, and gives each student three of them so that every element is placed by two students working separately. Students post each element to one of three Padlet columns (metal, non-metal, metalloid) with a one-line justification from its properties, such as conducts electricity, is brittle and dull, or forms a basic oxide. When the two posts for an element sit in different columns, the teacher projects them side by side and asks both students to argue their case before the class checks the data. Boron, silicon, germanium and arsenic usually split the class, which leads into why the metalloids sit along the staircase line.
This page is one of a growing set of PICRAT examples by cell, subject and grade. Page maintained by Andy Perryer.