"You sunk my Battleship."

Scene from The Simpsons, Season 10, Episode 20: "The Old Man and the C Student"

So I stumbled upon a brilliant idea from homeschooling mother Karyn Tripp. On her blog, "Teach Beside Me", she how she was able to engage even her eight-year-old child in learning chemistry through a game of Periodic Table Battlehship. Basically, she uses laminated periodic tables as game boards and has the kids use dry-erase markers to mark the locations of their ships, hits, and misses as they call out the numbers or the names of the elements. (Definitely check out her post because she also gives easy and low-budget directions on how to make the game yourself!)

Overall, I really like the idea. Here are my modifications for use in a classroom setting:

1. Introduce the game. Explain the basic rules of Battleship in case the game isn't as popular with your students' generation as it was in the 1990's.

2. Play a round. This, of course, depends on how much time you have to spend on introducing the game in class, but I recommend at least a good five minutes to make sure all the students understand what is going on as well as to allow enough time to show how fun it can be. Even better if you play - teacher vs. the students. Five minutes should be enough time for at least one ship to be sunk.

3. Announce that there will be a championship. Add the spice of competition to the classroom. Randomly divide the class into pairs and have those pairs play a game of Periodic Table Battleship in their own time (outside the classroom). Record the games like the NFL playoffs brackets. Winners of the first round play each other in the next round, etc. Have the students report the wins and losses every three days (e.g. Mondays and Thursdays) before the next round starts. (If you want something more to keep your students accountable, ask for photos of the winning and losing boards of every game.) Continue until there are only two players left.

4. Hold the championship match in class. It may be best to hold the championships the day before finals or a big test. It can work as stress relief before a big test, as well as a review -- especially if with the remaining time in class after the match is over, students are able to ask other questions to review for the exam.

Make alterations for the big match:

a. Limit each move to five seconds. Require the element to be called within five seconds or the turn is forfeited.

b. Make the game boards with periodic tables that do not show the names of the elements so that the competitors will need to memorize the elements on periodic table in order to call them.

Engage the non-competing class members

a. Broadcast the game via LCD projectors. Be sure to block the view of the LCD projection from the competitors!

b. Split the class into two teams (arbitrarily or let them choose which they "bet" on). Allow the team to block attacks for the competitors if they can state two properties, uses, reactions, etc. of the targeted element. Facts cannot be repeated.

What better homework is there than to play a game? I think this version of Battleship can really make familiarizing oneself with the elements and their locations on the periodic table (and consequently, learning periodic trends) so effortless.