Electron Shell Builder
Put the electrons of six elements into their shells and watch the atom build, then read the group, period and ion from the arrangement.
About this activity
Students fill the shells of six of the first 20 elements with + and − buttons, and the atom is drawn as they go. A wrong check says what's wrong (too few electrons, too many in the first shell, an inner shell not full) and the third shows the answer. Then three exam-style questions: the group from the outer electrons, the period from the number of shells, and the charge on the ion an element forms. Different elements every time. The first screen says where electron arrangements are in the student's exam board (AQA, Edexcel or OCR).
How to use Electron Shell Builder
- Electron Shell Builder is a free Chemistry activity for Years 9 to 11 that takes about 10 minutes. Try it on this page on a computer, tablet or phone: there’s nothing to download.
- In a lesson, choose Show on the board to play it together as a class.
- To set it for a class, a teacher shares it and gets a code: students type the 6-digit code at lycolearn.co.uk/join with their first name and the first letter of their surname (no accounts needed), and their scores come back to the teacher.
Students will
- Write the electron arrangement of any of the first 20 elements
- Use the arrangement to find an element's group and period
- Work out the charge on the ion an element forms
Teaching tips
- A quick starter before ionic bonding: the last part links electron arrangements to the ions in the Ionic Formula Builder.
- Students who finish fast can play again: the elements change each time.