Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Family Tree

I never thought of columns in a periodic table to function somewhat like a family tree, linking together elements with common characteristics. Luckily, this chapter provided insight into elemental facts that I had never known, making for a more interesting read. However, by this same token, since it was new, it was harder to relate to.


As I did before and like to do for any book, I examined the chapter title. "Near Twins and Black Sheep: The Genealogy of Elements." What on earth does this mean? The first chapter title was obvious. I looked up genealogy and found the following definitions:



Definition of GENEALOGY
1
: an account of the descent of a person, family, or group from an ancestor or from older forms
2
: regular descent of a person, family, or group of organisms from a progenitor or older form : pedigree
3
: the study of family pedigrees
4
: an account of the origin and historical development of something

I assume the definition will be the study of family pedigrees, discussing how elements in columns are "related".

The text went into a detailed description of the elements carbon and silicon. After reading I was able to see that these are the "near twins", as their similarities make them act in almost the same manner. Having studied chemistry, I feel like I should have known this fact. Perhaps I did and just forgot. But the most interesting portion that I feel I learned was about the detrimental health affects of silicon dust, such as what appears when a volcano erupts. 


I have always been fascinated by volcanoes and reading about silicon and volcanoes, even if it were briefly transported me back to my "Dante's Peak" obsession days. It served as a reminder of why I love science, how it surrounds us, and how interesting and relevant it is, even though people may not see this. 

But back to the point of the chapter, what helped me to make most sense of the content was the thought of the family tree. 
The parents are on top and those listed below (children) are directly related to those above. This is the same notion in the periodic table. If we look at a column, such as the one with carbon and silicon, we will automatically know that, as in a family tree, there are relationships. We can expect similarities. We can predict certain actions. Just from understanding relationships from looking at a family tree, we can understanding relationships from looking at a column.


Now that I have my feet a little more wet in this book, I am looking forward to what more new and interesting facts I will learn. What I really conquered from this chapter was a new understanding of elements in columns and their genealogy. Perhaps with this analogy to a family tree in high school, I would have understood a lot more!

1 comment:

  1. Kristen, I completely agree with you on the idea of relating what we know to what we are trying to make knowledge of. The fact that the family tree has helped you make meaning of the periodic table and its elements is crucial in your learning and thinking process. This is the same for me and I'm sure for many others. With our prior knowledge and by accessing that prior knowledge it makes it a whole lot easier to understand new material.

    I'm glad that you brought up the experience you had in chemistry class as a high school student because it just shows how important it is as future teachers to incorporate relevant ideas into our teaching practices. What I mean is that students learn better by making connections. I honestly thought that this kind of process was more important in teaching English. As a future English teacher I find it important for my students to make self-to-text, text-to-text, and world-to-text connections. By doing so, students get more out of what they're reading and it so much more enjoyable of an experience.

    To make science relevant in the classroom is important and it is obvious that science is everywhere!!

    I'm glad that this chapter and your process of trying to make meaning of that chapter was a successful one by making that analogy with the family tree.

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