Periodic Scrambled Maze#05( ) |
Are you an educator looking for lesson plan resources for academic chemistry? This periodic table of elements scrambled letters word maze puzzle activates students' critical thinking skills and engages problem solving strategies. This list of 20 periodic elements' have letter paths that create a maze like structure within the grid. Letters in the word clues travel: up, down, forwards, backwards, but not diagonally. There is an added challenge: letters in the word clues first need to be unscrambled!
Solve the puzzle:
1. REARRANGE the letters to reveal the words hidden in the grid. Record the correct spelling to support ease of solving the puzzle.
2. LOCATE the circled letter (in this case, the letter |P|): this is where the maze starts.
2. TRACE the letter path of the first word. Remember that letter paths travel up, down, forwards and backwards, but not diagonally.
3. Word paths track continuously from beginning to the end of the maze. Letter paths do not cross.
4. Students ACTIVATE problem solving strategies to determine the next word, based on letter clues and the number of words starting with the same letter!
5. Make sure to TRACK progress, by checking off the word clues as they are found.
Classroom resource ideas:
1. ENCOURAGE independent, self-directed learners: provide students with blank word search grids, located here: blank word search grids, to CREATE their own unique word search puzzles. They can use this list of 20 words, or their own unique list drawn from the elements of the periodic table.
2. CHALLENGE students to create other types of puzzles: cryptolists; all forms of crossword puzzles; have them create statements about an element and then create a cryptogram with either: 1) a letter for letter substitution, or 2) an alphanumeric substitution.
3. ACTIVATE students' critical thinking skills: get them to ORGANIZE list of elements by: 1) stability or instability of elemental isotopes, 2) toxicity levels (ordered from most toxic to least toxic or least toxic to most toxic), 3) atomic number/weight/mass, 4) period, 5) group, 6) ancient/modern, 7) any other category you can think of.
Solving puzzles has benefits:
1. activates problem solving strategies
2. engages critical thinking skills
3. engages the brain