Study Alkali Metals and Halogens through Learning Stations

Abstract

Periodic Table of Elements is the central to study Chemistry. It is, however considered by students as difficult to learn. Students confused between the change in physical properties when going down the group and chemical properties of Group 1 and Group 17. Students also found that this chapter is not interesting and involve a lot of memorization. The purpose of this research is to enhance students’ understanding about alkali metals and halogens through fun learning. 18 Form Four students, aged 16, who study Chemistry involved in this study. Six learning stations that include the physical properties of alkali metals and halogens, chemical properties of alkali metals and halogens, and hands on activities for chemical reactions are used in this study to enhance students’ learning.   Students are divided randomly into six groups to explore in each leaning station.  Formative assessment is carried out after learning activities in each station. Results of assessment shows positive effect of learning stations towards understanding of Periodic Table of Elements, at which 66.67% of students can master the concepts and hands-on activity about alkali metals while 69.45% of students understand the chemical properties of halogens. Findings also shows that 88.89% of students found that the learning stations enable them to understand new concepts easily and made learning alkali metals and halogens interesting and fun. This implies that this teaching and learning method can be used for other topics in chemistry.