My Notes
Categories
This game is modeled after the New York Times (NYT) "Connections" game, in which players are presented with 16 words or phrases and the objective is to sort the words into four groups of four words that are all connected in some way. The game can be done by students individually, in small groups, or even together as a whole class. This game aims to help students practice and/or review concepts related to Lewis acids and bases and hard-soft acid-base theory. In the game, students will be presented with 16 ions or compounds belonging to four different groups. In this game, the groups are hard ions, Lewis acids, Lewis bases, and compounds with hard-soft mismatch.
Note: the game generator does not allow for the use of lowercase letters, which can make this game a bit confusing! For example, "NAI" is sodium iodide, etc. I recommend telling students this upfront. Another alternative would be to use the written name for each species instead of the chemical formula.
In playing this game, students will be able to:
1) Classify chemical species according to their Lewis acidity/basicity or hardness/softness based on their size, polarizability, and bonding behavior.
2) Differentiate between hard and soft ions and predict preferred acid-base interactions using HSAB theory principles.
3) Apply Lewis acid/base and HSAB concepts to analyze patterns among chemical species and justify groupings using appropriate inorganic chemistry terminology.
The game is done on a computer. One option would be for the instructor to project the Connections game from their computer for the entire class to do together (if the class is small enough). Another options would be for individual students to play the game on their own computers.
Prior to this activity, students had been instructed on Lewis acids and bases and hard-soft acid-base theory and had completed a homework assignment with some related questions. During the activity, the game was projected for the entire class (about 12 students), and students worked together in previously established problem-solving groups. Groups discussed the puzzle independently and notified me when they were prepared to make a guess about a category. To make a guess, the group was required to identify the four items they believed belonged together and explain the underlying connection among them. After all connections had been correctly identified, students were asked follow up questions related to hard-soft acid-base theory, solubility, polarizability, and related concepts.
Evaluation
In my class, this was not a graded activity, but I would imagine that points could be given based on how many attempts a student makes to complete the puzzle.
The website I used to create the Connections game was ideal for my application because students could make any number of guesses that they want. Some websites for creating your own Connections games more closely follow the NYT game where you get four guesses before you "lose" and the answers are revealed.