Chemical Education Today

144 Journal of Chemical Education • Vol. 77 No. 2 February 2000 • JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu

The Cation Wheel

edited byAnn Cartwright

San Jacinto College, Central CampusDivision of Science & Mathematics

Pasadena, TX 77501-2007

Association Report: 2YC3

How to Make Learning ChemicalNomenclature Fun, Exciting, and Palatableby Joseph Chimeno

One great challenge that introductory chemistry studentshave is learning the names of various chemical compounds.When this topic is first introduced, and problems and ques-tions are assigned at the end of the chapter, one may hearstudents moaning and groaning. So to make chemical no-menclature fun, exciting, and palatable, the “RainbowWheel”1 was developed at North Iowa Area CommunityCollege.

What is the Rainbow Wheel? It is a chemical nomen-clature game that students play to help them master chemi-cal nomenclature. The game consists of two wheels; one is acation wheel and the other is an anion wheel. The cationwheel has 36 cations surrounding the wheel in a pie-shapedformat, and the anion wheel has 36 anions surrounding itswheel in a pie-shaped format. The objective of the game isto have the student spin a spindle within each wheel, thusrandomly selecting a cation and an anion. The game is calledthe Rainbow Wheel because each wheel contains four rain-bows that are very colorful and appealing to the eye. The stu-dent is to combine the anion and cation into the correct for-mula and to name it correctly according to nomenclaturerules. The answers are placed on a grid with space for tencations and ten anions. Once the grid is complete, the stu-dent will have written the formulas and names for 100 com-pounds.

During the 1998–99 academic year, I had my studentsuse this game and compete with one another in nomencla-ture contests, determining who could complete the grid thequickest and with the most correct formulas and names.Comments from the students were very positive. They hadfun and enjoyed themselves, not to mention that they learnedthe names and formulas of various chemical compounds. Thisgame was designed to name ionic compounds; but with aslight modification, molecular compounds can also be incor-porated into the game.

Results of the Rainbow Wheel were impressive. The stu-dents’ quiz scores went up significantly after using the game.The students loved the excitement of competing with oneanother, and it actually made nomenclature a fun experience.Who said chemistry isn’t fun?

In the fall of 1999, three different introductory chemis-try classes participated in the use of the Rainbow WheelChemical Nomenclature Game at our school. The classes wereinstructed in the rules of nomenclature (Stock Method), anda number of examples were discussed in detail. Nomencla-ture problems were assigned and reviewed. Each class took a

pre-quiz on chemical nomenclature before using the Rain-bow Wheel. The averages for each class were the following:Class A had an average of 58.4% correct; Class B had an av-erage of 54.8% correct; and Class C had an average of 50.9%correct. After the pre-quiz, each class worked with the Rain-bow Wheel Chemical Nomenclature Game extensively. Thestudents compiled the formulas and names for many com-pounds. This work involved completing a minimum of sixgrid sheets with the formulas and names of 100 compoundsper sheet. Each student had the opportunity to write the for-mula and name for each compound. A few students com-pleted nine grid sheets. After reviewing their work, studentstook the post-quiz (after using the Rainbow Wheel). The av-erage scores had risen by 18–22% per class. The results ofthe post-quiz were: Class A’s average was 76.5% correct; ClassB’s average was 75.1% correct; and Class C’s average was73.3% correct. The results indicated that the Rainbow Wheelhad a significant and positive impact on the student’s abilityto write the formulas and to name correctly a variety ofchemical compounds.

Note

1. The Rainbow Wheel can be found at http://www.niacc.cc.ia.us/~jchimeno/introchem/wheelpage.html (accessed Dec 1999).

Joseph Chimeno teaches at North Iowa Area CommunityCollege, 500 College Drive, Mason City, IA 50401; phone: 515/756-3305; email: blueagl@netins.net