This links below describe a neat way for your students to do research on a particular element and display their results to your entire class. Each student constructs an icosahedron with a different kind of information about an element on each of the 20 faces. The icosahedra are then hung from the classroom ceiling in the form of a periodic table. This is a great idea for National Chemistry Week (Oct. 19-23). Information about the elements can be found from Periodic Table Live!, an interactive periodic table available form the ChemEd DL.

This material is reprinted with permission from the Journal of Chemical Education, which holds copyright to the material.

Article. Periodic Table Icosahedra

Supplemental directions for doing the activity and making an icosahedron. Supplemental Directions