The History of the Atom

ATOMIC THEORY

The History of the Atom

A Cooperative Learning Internet Activity

The structure of this activity is entitled Jigsaw. Each member of the team is responsible for a specific part of the activity. As “experts” or “specialists” you must be able to teach your part to your teammates. With that goal in mind, members of each base group leave and form expert teams by topic, eg. Dalton’s Model. In your expert teams you must master the material and decide how best to teach it to the members of your base group. Finally, as experts, you return to your base groups and take turns using your expertise to teach each other about your topic.

In the expert groups, each participant should choose one of the following roles:

Encourager: Encourages reluctant participants and says “what a great idea” at appropriate times.

Facilitator: Makes sure everyone participates equally and keeps everyone on task.

Checker: Makes sure everyone has mastered the material

Timekeeper: Keeps the group aware of time constraints and helps the group remain on task.

The group should set time limits for different parts of the discussion. Time will be needed to read about the activity and gather information from different sources. Additional time will be needed to put your information together and determine what should be passed on to your base groups.

Relax and enjoy the activity. You will feel more comfortable as you go along.

The Activity

Objective: to develop an historical model of the atom from prehistoric times through the beginning of the twentieth century and illustrate it.

Time frame: Two class periods will be allotted for the completion of this activity.

I.   The entire class will view 3, 10 minute video clips from the TVO series: The Structure of the Atom. Complete the guide sheet as the video progresses.

II. In your base groups determine who will be the heart, diamond, club and spade.

III.   Break up into expert groups by topics. The topics are:

a)   Early model of the atom;

b)   Dalton’s model;

c)   Thomson’s model;

d)   The Rutherford model;

The teacher will assign the topic to the groups.

IV.   Begin collecting information about your topic using text book readings, video guide sheets and the following internet sites:

http://www.dist214.k12.il.us/users/asanders/atom.html

http://dbhs.wvusd.k12.ca.us/AtomicStructure/AtomicStructure.html

http://hyperion.advanced.org/3659/atommole/atoms.html

http://members.tripod.com/~EppE/atomict.htm

http://webserver.lemoyne.edu/faculty/giunta/week.html

V. Use the following questions and directives as a guideline for gathering information. Do not limit your information to just the answers to these questions.

a)   What time period does your model cover?

b)   Additional scientists who contributed to this model of the atom.

c)   What additional laws or theories were used or discovered in the development of this model?

d)   What special equipment did the scientists use to develop and support their model?

e)   What was the major discovery that lead to the development of this model?

f)   Draw an illustration of the model of the atom.

g)   Develop a timeline for the model.

VI.   Take notes on the material you read.

VII.   Record your sources.

VIII.   As an expert group, determine what information you feel is most important to teach to your individual base groups.

IX.   At the end of the allotted time, return to your base group and use your expertise to teach the development of your model of the atom to your group members.