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“Cracking Down Chemistry”

Creators: Emily
a High School Student from Thomas A. Edison Career & Technical High School
Screenshot 2022 05 15 6 56 49 PM

About this Project:

The challenge, issue, or need that my project addresses is education. Specifically, it is designed to educate the user about science in the Chemistry field. The purpose of the “Cracking Down Chemistry” app is to test the user’s ability to identify a random element from the periodic table based on information regarding the element like the symbol, atomic number, and uses.


The design process for my app was pretty lengthy. I wanted to combine my interests in the sciences with education because I wanted other people to get an opportunity to learn about Chemistry in some way. Your age doesn’t have to be a boundary for what you can learn and when you can learn it. So, I thought that I should combine my interests (science) with something that I’m very passionate about, which is my education. My idea has evolved over time as I was working on the project because initially I wanted users to identify an element based on only the symbol but I had to think about how I wanted users to implement education in the process. So, I added additional information aside from the element. I added the uses, an atomic number, and even additional information like the boiling point, melting point, group, etc.


My project was built using code.org. I used coding to help to develop my app from scratch. Code.org provides the components for the app. I had to put everything together in order to produce the final result. My project works with user interaction. As long as the user is interacting with the app by typing in their answers, pressing buttons, and reading the directions, the app will work perfectly.

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Community Feedback:

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Feedback from the Judges:

👏 UX Research Lead at WorkMarket an ADP Company — Emoti-Con Judge
Props to Emily for taking what can often be a dry but essential "element" of teaching chemistry and adding a fun gamification aspect. The design is simple and clear as it challenges users to identify each element in the periodic table one at a time.

I was also impressed that Emily was able to gain additional insight after starting and put it into practice by offering additional details for each element upon click - whether the player got the correct answer or not.

To make the app even more "sticky" and entertaining - and provide even greater educational value, Emily might consider an enhancement to the one-at-a-time selection of elements that requires the player to start over after each answer. To go take the game further, she could combine multiple related elements in a grid (e.g., Alkaline earth metals, halogens), along with a randomized list of answers for each and have the user move cards into the matching squares until they match the names and symbols correctly. In this way, the user can learn each element and their relationship to one another within the table.

Overall, a nice elegant approach to learning what can be for many a dry task.

👏 Lead Software Engineer at ADP — Emoti-Con Judge
This is such a wonderful way to learn such an important part of information! Chemistry was definitely not one of my strengths growing up and I would've loved an apps like this to help Hearn and study.

I'm also really impressed with the demo you've been able to put together. It's difficult to sometimes translate an idea in your head into a clear presentable proof of concept and you've managed to do that wonderfully! Future improvements to the app could be something like difficulty levels where as you get better at the game, you're presented with less information about the element in order to guess it!

Great work :)

👏 Engineer at Engineering — Emoti-Con Judge
Chemistry was never my strong subject and I wish I had study aids like the one that you are creating! I like that it wasn't just "symbol" and "atomic number"... you combined uses and other specifications AND an entire second section on additional info. Loved that complexity and layering of knowledge. This is like flash cards for chemistry and I think it's a great idea. A next step might be the names and properties of different molecules- there are many uses to your excellent idea!

Feedback from the Community:

👏 a High School Student
I like how it's teaching me more about chemistry and helps me memorize elements easier

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