The Periodic Table: No Piece of Cake

It’s finally been done. Sixth grader Devin Dalby amazed his peers and teachers as he recited — through song — the entire Periodic Table of Elements from memory!

Middle School science teachers, Megan Hurster and Maria Lee, issued a challenge to all 6th and 7th grade students to memorize the Periodic Table of Elements by learning The Periodic Table Song. Any student who could perform the song from beginning to end from memory would receive a homemade cake — in this case, German chocolate baked by Ms. Lee. In the three years the challenge has been issued at WSD, no student has completed it — until now.

“I practiced for 15 – 20 minutes every day for about six weeks,” explains Devin, who kept adding new lines until he finished it. It wasn’t too hard, but it did require a lot of work and effort.”

Those who have attempted to memorize the song can appreciate the formidability of the challenge. It begins with well-known elements such as hydrogen, helium, nitrogen and oxygen, and culminates with the lesser known and pronounceable ununpentium, livermorium, ununseptium, and ununoctium. It also includes the four new elements added to the Table in 2016, nihonium, moscovium, tennessine, and organesson, which brought the official number of elements to 118.

Devin’s advice to other students attempting the goal is to just keep at it, a little every day. The challenge will remain open through the end of the school year, and students in 6th and 7th grades are encouraged to give it a try. After all, there is caked involved.