New Perspectives in Science Education

The use of mobile applications in science education provides a series of benefits that enhance the learning experience and the understanding of scientific knowledge [1]. Among these, interactivity, motivation, feedback, and personalized learning stand out. As part of a digital transition research project, mobile applications are being developed to enhance science teaching and learning. This study presents the design of the mobile app "Periodic Table Solitaire", whose objective is to familiarize users with the chemical elements of the Periodic Table, its structure, the families it comprises, and their relevance to daily life. This topic was chosen because the Periodic Table is an essential tool in chemistry, providing an organizational structure for chemical elements, aiding in understanding their properties, relationships, and behaviors [2]. Various studies support that learning the Periodic Table through games yields educational benefits [3]. "Periodic Table Solitaire" has been developed for Android using the Unity game engine and programmed in C#. The game's goal is to arrange all the cards into eight separate stacks, each corresponding to a family of the main groups (s and p-blocks) of the Periodic Table. The game features 43 cards, each representing the name and symbol of the chemical element, atomic number, group number, and an everyday object containing it (e.g., carbon in a pencil lead). All cards from the same family have a frame of the same color. Initially, the top of the screen displays eight spots for each family and a stack of covered cards. At the botton of the screen, the cards are organized into six columns with one face-up card at the top of each column and one or more face-down cards below them. The player must move the cards between stacks and spaces to arrange them in ascending order by their atomic number. If the desired move is not possible, the player can uncover some of the face-down cards at the top of the screen. The game features various difficulty levels, each offering less information about the chemical element as the player progresses. Funding: Research project TED2021-130102B-I00 entitled "Digital and ecological transition in science education through disruptive technologies for the digitalisation of educational games and their evaluation with e-rubrics" funded by the Spanish Government.