In Mrs. Hoefker’s chemistry class, students were tasked with a difficult challenge: designing a periodic table with a specific topic of their choice but following accurate trends, which ranged from video game characters to food, movies, and more—designing the periodic table with such free range inspired creativity while enforcing that all of the periodic tables had accurate and arranged trends similar to the periodic table today.

Throughout the week, these unique tables helped expand students’ understanding of what has been taught in the class surrounding the periodic table. Creating these tables demonstrated the multiple sides to chemistry, which are creative and fun while being informative and strict. Students were allowed to communicate their projects to one another throughout the week, supporting each other’s ideas. The tables also had to demonstrate accurate trends, both horizontally and vertically, making sense for each section.

One student, a junior, Betsy Joyce, focused on Starbucks drinks and organized her periodic table according to two main trends. The first was through the amount of calories, and the second was by taste order and how she liked them. “One thing I really enjoyed about the periodic table project was that each student got to pick their own topic; picking your own topic made the project more interesting,” she said. Therefore, Betsy chose Starbucks drinks because they were attractive to her.

“I like it as a project because it allows you to pick a topic you’re interested in while also challenging you to create a periodic table and follow trends,” Mrs. Hoefker said.

Mrs. Hoefker’s chemistry project encouraged creativity while teaching the importance of the periodic table. Getting to pick what we designed our tables on, like Betsy’s focus on Starbucks, allows students to be engaged while learning a unique part of chemistry.