Mastery of Chemical Formula Through CHEMIMATCH by Khor Sim S

8/13/2019 Mastery of Chemical Formula Through CHEMIMATCH by Khor Sim S

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Mastery of Chemical Formulae through CHEMIMATCH

KHOR SIM SUANSMK BERAPIT,

14000 BUKIT MERTAJAM, PENANG

ABSTRACT

This paper describes the use of CHEMIMATCH, a card game designed to improve the

students memory skills of the ionic formulae in the subtopic Chemical Formulae. The

basic idea of this design is to have the students construct the chemical formulae bymatching the correct combination of the cations and anions. CHEMIMATCH is different

from other types of card games as it consists of three sets of cards which require the

students to master SET I and SET II before playing SET III. The uniqueness of this card

game is that students can play the game on their own with or without the teachers

supervision.

1.0 Introduction

As a chemistry teacher, I often come across students having difficulty in giving the

correct chemical formulae of substances. As a result, it will affect the students ability to

write balanced chemical equations. Sometimes I have no choice but to force the

students to memorise the ionic formulae in the hope that they will be able to come out

with the correct formulae of the ionic compounds. However, I realise that this strategy is

sometimes not workable as some students will not take the initiatives to memorise and

find it boring. Thus, the question arises on how to help my students solve this problembesides making it interesting enough to learn the chemical formulae of substances on

their own.

Through discussion and brainstorming sessions with my chemistry colleague, I finally

come out with this idea of chemical formulae matching through a card game called


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CHEMIMATCH to help my students. I first conceived the idea of the CHEMIMATCH

game after conducting a survey to gage my students interest. The survey results

revealed that most of the students enjoy playing POKEMON during their leisure time. I

then decided to come out with an interesting game of chemical formulae matching to

alleviate students difficulty in writing chemical formulae of substances. Thus, the

CHEMIMATCH game is designed in such a way that students can have fun while

competing with each other to win the game. As the total point for the correct matching of

a chemical formula is 1000, the students can check on each others cards and play with

or without the teachers supervision.

2.0 Objectives of CHEMIMATCH

The CHEMIMATCH card game is designed with the following objectives:

(a) To familiarize students with the ionic formulae of cations and anions, and

chemical formulae of all types of elements or compounds.

(b) To develop the thinking skills of students when constructing the chemical

formulae of ionic compounds.

(c) To help students utilize the knowledge learnt in an interesting and active manner.

(d) To create a fun and lively atmosphere for students to communicate and solve

problems among themselves.

(e)To instill students confidence and interest towards learning Chemistry,

particularly in the subtopic CHEMICAL FORMULAE.

3.0 Construction of CHEMIMATCH

The innovation of CHEMIMATCH was carried out within a period of 2 months starting

from March until April 2009. In the first month, a preliminary survey was conducted

through interviews with students and feedback from teachers followed by observations

and analysis of Progressive Test 1. During this period, the teacher constructs the three

sets of cards which involve two major stages such as follows:

A. Matching of ions to form chemical formulae of ionic compounds


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(a) Level Iinvolves simple ions (SET I) as shown below:

Cations Points Anions Points

K+ 250 Cl- 200

Na+ 300 I- 300

Cu2+ 250 O2- 150

Mg2+ 450 Br- 250

Al3+ 100

Zn2+ 150

Ag+ 600

Fe3+ 100

Pb2+ 200

P+ 150 Cl2- 100

So+ 200 O- 100

Mn2+ 150

Co2+ 200

[Note: P+, So+, Mn2+, Co2+, Cl2-and O-are purposely added to distract the students.]

Name of compound Formula Points

Magnesium oxide MgO 400

Zinc chloride ZnCl2 450

Sodium chloride NaCl 500

Sodium oxide Na2O 250

Potassium iodide KI 450

Lead(II) iodide PbI2 200

Copper(II) oxide CuO 600

Aluminium oxide Al2O3 350Zinc bromide ZnBr2 350

Iron(III) chloride FeCl3 300

Sodium iodide NaI 400

Silver chloride AgCl 200

Potassium bromide KBr 500


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SET Icaters for students who simply cannot write chemical formulae of ionic

compounds at all. In this set, there are altogether 150 cards which comprise

90 cation cards (10 of each cation), 40 anion cards (10 of each anion), 6

distractors and 14 cards with names of formulae of ionic compounds.

(b) Level IIinvolves polyatomic ions (SET II) as shown below:

Cations Points Anions Points

Cu2+ 250 CO32- 150

Na+ 300 SO42- 250

Ca2+ 350 OH- 250

Mg2+ 450 Cl- 200

Fe2+ 200 NO3- 150

Al3+ 100

Pb2+ 200

NH4+ 250

So+ 200 SO2- 150

Silver bromide AgBr 150


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Mn2+ 150 OH2- 150

Ca+ 200 CO2- 100

[Note: So+, Mn2+, Ca+, SO2-, OH2-and CO2-are intentionally added to distract

the students.]

SET II caters for

students who

have acquired the

mastery level of

SET I which involves

simple ions. In

this set, the

students are

introduced and

exposed to

polyatomic ions. There are altogether a total of 150 cards in this set which

comprise 80 cation cards (10 of each cation), 50 anion cards (10 of each

anion), 6 distractors and 14 cards with names of formulae of ionic

compounds.

B. Matching of chemical formulae to all types of elements or compounds (SET III) as

shown below:

Substances Formula of

substance

Points

Name of substance Points

Potassium 650 K 350

Aluminium oxide 350 Al2O3 650

Name of compound Formula Points

Iron(II) sulphate FeSO4 550

Calcium carbonate CaCO3 500

Sodium carbonate Na2CO3 250

Copper(II) carbonate CuCO3 600

Magnesium nitrate Mg(NO3)2 250

Copper(II) sulphate CuSO4 500Ammonium chloride NH4Cl 550

Lead(II) sulphate PbSO4 550

Aluminium hydroxide Al(OH)3 150

Iron(II) chloride FeCl2 400

Sodium hydroxide NaOH 450

Magnesium carbonate MgCO3 400

Lead(II) nitrate Pb(NO3)2 500

Ammonium sulphate (NH4)2SO4 250


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Potassium nitrate 750 KNO3 250

Ammonium sulphate 250 (NH4)2SO4 750

Hydrogen 700 H2 300

Chlorine 680 Cl2 320

Carbon monoxide 450 CO 550

Sulphur dioxide 250 SO2 750

Phosphoric acid 400 H3PO4 600

Ethanoic acid 350 CH3COOH 650

Sodium chloride 500 NaCl 500

Hydrochloric acid 800 HCl 200

Sulphur trioxide 730 SO3 270

Calcium hydroxide 150 Ca(OH)2 850

Oxygen 660 O2 340

Copper 720 Cu 280

Iron 540 Fe 460

Sulphuric acid 640 H2SO4 360

Magnesium 480 Mg 520

Water 670 H2O 330

Nitric acid 470 HNO3 530

Magnesium carbonate 400 MgCO3 600

Ammonia 550 NH3 450

Zinc 570 Zn 430

Potassium hydroxide 500 KOH 500

Distractors:

Formula of

substance

Points Formula of

substance

Points

Cl 300 K2NO3 350

Mg2 250 CO2 450

O 650 HSO4 260

P 320 Co 500

NH4 400 HNO 330


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SET IIIalso involves card matching whereby the players will have to match the

chemical formula of a substance to the name of substance displayed. This set

includes all types of substances and altogether there are 110 cards which

comprise 25 cards with name of substance, 75 cards with formula of substance

(3 of each formula) and 10 distractors.

For the construction of CHEMIMATCH SETS I, II and III, I prepare a total of 150

cards each measuring 6 cm x 10 cm for SET I, 150 cards for SET II and 110

cards for SET III. For SET I (see P-1) and SET II (see P-2), one side of the card

is labelled CHEMIMATCH and CATION (red card) or ANION (blue card) while

the other side is the ionic formula and point. Another type of the card shows the

name of ionic compound and point with CHEMIMATCH (yellow card) printed

over-leaf. As for SET III (see P-3), one side of the card shows the formula of

substance and point while the other side is printed CHEMIMATCH (green card).

Another type of the card shows the name of substance and point with

CHEMIMATCH (yellow card) printed over-leaf.

The letterings and designs of the laminated cards are done using computer and

printed on A4 coloured papers. Overall, the cost incurred for the construction of

CHEMIMATCH SETS I, II and III is RM 41.00. The cost is relatively low as

compared to the vast benefits obtained for the teaching and learning of chemistry

particularly on the subtopic Chemical Formulae in the Form Four Chemistry

Syllabus.

4.0 Examples of CHEMIMATCH Sets I, II and III


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P-1


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P-2

P-3


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5.0 Implementation of CHEMIMATCH

The implementation of CHEMIMATCH was carried out in the second month of April

2009. The rules set for the game are as follows:

(a) SET I and SET II

1. The basic idea is for each player to make up a chemical formula by matching the

correct combination of cations and anions to the name of ionic compound given.

2. The game is suitable for up to a maximum of 4 players.

3. For a start, each player takes one set of anion and cation cards.

4. Each player in turn plays the cards by matching the cards according to the name

of ionic compound displayed on the table. The correct matching of cards will

have a total point of 1000.

5. If unable to match the cards, the player will have to draw one card either from the

cation or anion stack of cards.

6. The game continues until all the cards with names of ionic compounds are used

up.

7. The winner of the game will be the player with the highest total points.

(b) SET III

1. The basic idea is to have the players match the correct chemical formula of a

substance to the name of substance given by the team manager.

2. The game is suitable for up to a maximum of 8 players.

3. For a start, the team manager will deal each player one chemical formula card at

a time until all the cards are given out.

4. The team manager will display one card with the name of substance on the table.

5. The fastest player to place the correct chemical formula of the substance given

will get to keep the matching cards.

6. The game continues until all the cards with names of substances are used up.

7. The winner of the game will be the player with the highest total points.


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6.0 Benefits of CHEMIMATCH in the teaching and learning process

Initially many students gave the following reasons for failing to master the subtopic

on CHEMICAL FORMULAE:

1. Find it boring to memorise the ionic formulae.

2. Too many ions to remember.

3. This subtopic is so difficult.

After introducing SET I and SET II to the students, many of them could not wait to

play the game as they wanted to compete with their friends to win the game. When

playing SET III, the students were even more excited as they tried to keep pace with

their friends. The following were the comments given by students about the

CHEMIMATCH game:

1. I enjoy very much playing the game.

2. Its easier to memorise the ionic formulae now.

3. I wish I have more time to play CHEMIMATCH.

4. This game helps me to improve on ionic formulae.

5. I have much fun playing the game.

After a few rounds of CHEMIMATCH (SET I and SET II), the students were more

familiar with the ionic formulae and the principles of constructing chemical formulae

of ionic compounds. The teacher observed that the students even started to keep a

check on each others chemical formula whenever a student placed the matching

cards showing the formula (SET III) on the table. They were able to confirm the

correct matching easily since the total point must be equal to 1000.

The CHEMIMATC card game has enhanced and improved the students memory

skills on the ionic formulae and chemical formulae of substances. The use of

CHEMIMATCH has enabled the students to give the correct chemical formulae of

substances with ease and confidence. Through card matching, the students had

also learnt to determine the ratio of cations and anions in an ionic compound. For

example, when forming zinc chloride compound, one Zn2+ ion card needs to be

matched with two Cl-ion cards so that the total charge is zero.


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7.0 Conclusion

The CHEMIMATCH game can be used as an effective tool in the teaching and learning

of the subtopic Chemical Formulae in Chapter 3: Chemical Formulae and Equations of

the Form 4 Chemistry Syllabus. In the process of playing the game, students

misconceptions and uncertainties in constructing chemical formulae will be eliminated

after a few rounds of the game. The card game certainly outweighs the routine chalk

and talk and drill and practice of examination questions methods of teaching and

learning. This is because the CHEMIMATCH game is fun, enjoyable and exciting as it

involves students participation and interaction in a lively atmosphere.

Students critical thinking and decision making skills can also be enhanced when playing

CHEMIMATCH as they need these skills to choose either the cation or anion cards to

match the name of the ionic compound. Besides, this card game can also be used in

one of the Science Club activities and for recreational activities. In conclusion, the use

of CHEMIMATCH certainly has a positive impact on the students learning interest and

attitudes towards chemistry.

References

A Handbook for Teachers (1992). Chemistry Card and Board Games. Science

Teachers Association of Singapore.

Bahagian Perancangan dan Penyelidikan Dasar Pendidikan, Kementerian Pelajaran

Malaysia. (2006). Manual Kajian Tindakan. Kuala Lumpur: BPPDP, KPM.

Curriculum Development Centre. (2004). Curriculum Specifications for Chemistry Form

Four. Ministry of Education, Malaysia.

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Mastery of Chemical Formula Through CHEMIMATCH by Khor Sim S

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