Chemistry Clothespin Task Card Race
Are you looking for exciting, game-based activities for students to practice chemistry content? A Clothespin task card race is a great way for students to practice chemistry content that can be categorized. In this example, I’ll be using properties of bond types (ionic, metallic, polar covalent, and nonpolar covalent) as my chemistry content. All you need are task cards that have a statement, along with the categories, and some clothespins. Oh, and maybe a treat for those that finish first.
I originally found a clothespin race on the blog of Math Equals Love, where she used the clothespin task cards to have students match trig functions to a statement on the task card. I thought it was a great activity, but pondered where I could use it. As I was approaching the 4th day of a qualitative analysis lab with my AP Chemistry students, I was realizing the extent of how well, or not well, my students were matching bond types to properties. And I thought to myself, this would be a great place to use this clothespin task card activity.
In this post, you will learn how to make your own set of clothespin task cards for chemistry, and how to use them with students in your high school chemistry classroom.
Step 1. Pick Your Categories.
This will work best if you have categories. Students need to be able to read a statement, and then match it to a category…or maybe even match it to more than one category! In my case, I wanted students to practice matching bond types with properties. For example, ionic bonds usually conduct electricity in solution. Or nonpolar solids will usually dissolve in nonpolar solvents. I decided my four categories would be:
ionic
metallic
polar covalent
nonpolar covalent
In my case, I decided to label the circles on the task cards with I (ionic), M (metallic), PC (polar covalent), and NPC (nonpolar covalent). You could leave these blank or filled with a color, and label your clothespins. I wanted to be able to reuse my clothespins, so I opted to label the circles on the cards themselves.
Step 2. Create your statements.
The next step is to create the task cards with the statements. I made a template with the circles on the bottom, and then just changed the statement for each of the task cards. These statements should have at least one match with a category. For example, in the image above, the statement is “contains a metal and a nonmetal.” This would fall into the ionic category. You want several in each category. In my opinion, this activity will involve more critical thinking if you can also include statements that could match more than one category. This allows students to consider which properties might be less useful in identifying a substance, or at least might need to be used with another property, since more than one bond type can exhibit that property. In the case of bond types, I included statements like “tend to have higher melting points,” and “will usually dissolve in water.” In the case of the first, that statement could be describing both ionic and metallic substances, while the second could describe many ionic and polar covalent substances.
Step 3. Student recording sheet.
If you want this to be a race, you will need some way for students to keep track of which task cards they have completed. i came up with this simple recording sheet which had bubbles for each task card. It’s pretty basic, but I could use it with another set in the future, and not have to reinvent the wheel.
Step 4. Material Preparation.
Once you have your task cards made, you will need to get them printed, and laminated for durability if you so choose. How many sets you print is entirely up to you. If you want to do this as a race where students come to you to get checked, you may not need 12 sets. I went with three sets total, which seemed to work pretty well for my classes of 21-23. It was probably too many for my class of 12. But it worked out. And it meant less cutting and laminating for me.
You will need to print out your recording sheet if you have one. I printed enough to have one sheet per pair.
Clothespins! You will need to gather some clothespins. I gave each group 4 clothespins, which I stored in these thicker resealable bags. I got some colored clothespins from Michael’s, but really any clothespins will do.
How to Play.
Pair students or form teams. I paired my students so more of them would be engaged at the same time.
Give a few clothespins to each team. Also provide each team with a recording sheet if you so desire.
Have all teams send a “runner” to the task card stack to get ONE task card. I kept the pile of task cards near the front of my room.
The “runner” takes the task card back to their team. The team discusses, and decides where to clip a clothespin. If it applies to more than one category, they can clip multiple clothespins.
The “runner” brings the task card with the clothespins to me to check. I found that it was really easy to check as I knew which bubble was which. If it was on the first bubble, they picked ionic. It made it super easy to grade on the fly.
If the student was correct, I marked their recording sheet. The student would discard that task card, pick up another and return to their team. If the student was incorrect, I sent them back to their team to discuss, and once they decided on a new answer, they would bring it back up.
The first team(s) to get all 24 correct where given a prize. I did the first two teams, and gave them candy, but this could be whatever you want.
That’s It. I think this activity went well, and it got my students to think about what bond types exhibit what properties. And hopefully got them to think about what they needed to study more. It didn’t take too much time, and my students were engaged. Plus, it was easy to “grade” as they came up, as the teacher can easily match the clothespin location to the bond type to see if students are correct.
Types of Bonds Clothespin Task Card Race
If you don’t have time to make your own, check out my set for Types of Bonds in my TPT Store.
Let me know if you use this activity in your high school chemistry classes, and let me know how it goes! If you have ideas for other categories you’d be interested in seeing, let me know that too! Send me an email at rebecca.unbrokenbond@gmail.com or connect with me on Instagram. Thanks for reading and happy teaching!
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