DeskTopper™ version of the Alexander Arrangement of Elements
Packaged in pairs, for assembly in two different ways, as desired, as well as in a
Schools Only Special 36 DeskTopper™ Package

Order the DeskTopper
...and other Alexander Arrangement Models



POP-UP MENU

the Lesson before
THE lesson
...when the Alexander Arrangement provides clarity and appreciation of the standard table

Inventing
3-D Periodic Tables
...from de Chancourtois and Mendeleev to the 20th Century interpreters

Making a DeskTopper
...adding a dimension to the periodic table - physically and intellectually

DeskTopper as Caddy
...doing double duty - forever(?)

a GOOD flat table
...for a pocket version of the Alexander Arrangement

How Boys Learn
- and Don't
...action is the answer - don't just sit there, do something!

Lesson plan -
Scaffolding
...using prior knowledge, piqueing interest, motivating - "...involve me and I'll understand."

Lesson plan -
Inquiry Based
...using prior knowledge, piqueing interest, motivating - "...involve me and I'll understand."

Special Classroom SALE
...with 50% to 80% savings on all Alexander Arrangement products in class size bundles

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The DeskTopper™ is the quick and easy form of the Alexander Arrangement of Elements (AAE), especially useful in a full classroom, hands-on lesson just prior to the lesson in your curriculum that normally introduces the periodic table.

Working with parts of the printed sheet, students learn of the blocks and the connections by holding them in their hands and doing these connections while building a periodic table of their very own - a welcome change from books, especially for boys. At the same time they see the flat table build into the three dimensions envisaged by the developer of the first periodic table, de Chancourtois. Students can clearly learn the foundation of all flat periodic tables: continuity (of atomic number sequence) and contiguity (of chemical similarities - families, because the AAE, of all periodic tables, depicts them accurately and completely.

Arranging all the elements in order (with successive elements touching), while still keeping the accepted groups and families, is possible only because of the limitations of 2-D having been removed.

The position of the Rare Earths (f-block), is being argued, as is the location of Hydrogen. The DeskTopper can build to either the "Y over La" format or "Y over Lu". A comparison of both are illustrated in the package, with detailed instructions - including patterns for a base, which helps position the sections for general handling as a small pen/pencil caddy while serving as a handy reference tool.

The H conflict is because of the many possible relations with other elements, directly, by diad, triad, etc. The AAE's Hydrogen Crown resolves these, and the dimensionality of the model provides grounds for increasing relations not previously perceptible.

The motivation gained by the unique & attractive shape and strict adherence to the Periodic Law is a great aid in atttracting the new student to the extraordinary importance of the periodic table.

Teachers, inserting the DeskTopper™ or Student Interactive versions into the curriculum just prior to the standard periodic table lesson with a flat chart, will find that by avoiding the questionable form of the flat table in reference to the Periodic Law will speed and improve learning.

Scaffolding and Inquiry based lesson plans lend themselves admirably to aid teaching speed, ease, and clarity.

No worries about students carrying a 3-D table around, as it can be made flat as can be without losing the reference qualities and be zapped back into 3-D in a minute!

Click to a pair of DeskTopper™ Models

How Boys Learn ... and don't

2 Ways of the DeskTopper™

pre-Periodic Table Teaching

DT as Caddy

the Roadkill DeskTopper

Scaffolding of the PT

a GOOD flat table