Poetry and Alkali Metals: Building Bridges to the Study of Atomic Radius and Ionization Energy

Exploring chemistry through its presence in the literature in general, and poetry in particular, may increase students' curiosity, may enhance several basic skills, such as writing, reading comprehension and argumentative skills, as well as may improve the understanding of the chemistry topics covered. Nevertheless, the pedagogical potential of the link between poetry and chemistry has not yet been fully explored in school. This article describes a study during which a teaching strategy was used with pre-university students of introductory chemistry in order to explore the topics atomic radius and ionization energy by resorting to a poem about alkali metals. The study resulted in new poems and cartoons of chemical elements created by the students, which, together with the results of a questionnaire survey, were positive indicators of the impact of poetry in the motivation and learning of the chemistry topics explored. While the students showed some difficulties interpreting the poem, they considered that teaching chemistry with poetry is a motivating strategy that should be used more often, and that it enhances the students' engagement in the construction of significant learning.