If you are a science teacher, you probably responded with excitement when you heard that the seventh row of the periodic table was finally filled with the confirmation of the synthesis of Nihonium, Moscovium, Tennessine, and Oganesson. You may have then been psyched to go order an up to date periodic table for your wall. A year and a half later, you still cannot find that table. It took almost a year before the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) officially voted on the names, and for some reason, the scientific supply companies still have not produced up to date tables. I wanted my students to have fully up to date table for two reasons. 1. They should see current science because we are able to communicate quickly in the 21st century. 2. I wouldn't have to address the holding places anymore. (No, Jimmy, Uuq is not an element symbol. It's a holding place for one they haven't made yet.) They have driven me crazy for years.
In the absence of ones I could buy, I went looking for ones I could print (following fair use guidelines, of course). There are few up to date table that have the information I want them to have. There are periodic tables with way too much, and there are periodic tables with way too little. When you teach 8th-grade, you want that goldilocks table, where the amount of information is just right. I did what any good teacher with at least some computer skills would do. I took a free use periodic table that didn't have enough information on it, and I modified it. You will find it at the bottom of this post. Tada! My students now have an up to date table with atomic symbol, name, atomic number, atomic mass, and oxidation numbers. That's all they need in 8th-grade because I'm not teaching them quantum mechanics.
As I sat in a faculty meeting with my freshly printed periodic tables, a colleague uttered words that make me recoil - "You should sell that." There are a lot of reasons why it is nutty to think that I would sell the periodic table, having only combined the research of others; but that isn't the reason it makes me crazy. I've been hearing this about everything I make for my classroom. I wrote a textbook for my own use and to benefit my students, and the first question anyone asks is, "Are you going to sell it?" Again, there are a lot of reasons why I couldn't even if I wanted to, but that's not what makes me crazy.
What makes me crazy is the assumption that everything we do must be done for monetary gain. I modified a periodic table because I love my students and want them to have the right information (and because I love that I don't have to address the doggone holding places). I wrote a book because I love my students and want them to have a usable book. I designed a review game because I love the way my students respond when they get to do something they aren't used to. Teachers bring our passion and love and talent to our classrooms out of love. Please stop trying to turn it into monetary gain.
If you teach middle school (or even high school) science and want this periodic table, here it is the screen shot.
Here's the full-size version.
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