Here's the plan one student sent me by email for their essay on 'The periodic table'.

I left the essay as open-ended as possible to see what students will come up with...

I collected some info for my essay and i thought you could read through it and comment. That would be great! 

Introduction:

   About what? 
      The periodic table is a table in which all of the known elements are listed. 
   Short description:
      ...
1 paragraph(creation):
   Who?
      The first man to describe the periodic table was Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev.
   How?
      Mendeleev used the properties of the 57 known elements to group them. He used the first version of the periodic table to place elements where they seemed to belong. He also left blank spaces in the appropriate squares. After the elements had been laid out he was able to, in detail, predict the chemical & physical tendencies of the elements. After scientists could predict the elements that are missing by looking which squares are free.
   When?
      Some, like gold, silver, copper and carbon, have been known for thousands of years. Others, such as meitnerium, darmstadtium and ununquadium, have only recently been created by scientists.
2 paragraph(the look):
   Arrangements?
      The table arranges the elements in order of increasing proton number to show the similarities of chemical elements. 
   Groups?
      These elements can then be sub divided into 4 groups; Alkali, non-metals, transition & inner-transitions.
   Patterns?
      If read horizontally the size of the atoms increases from metals to non-metals, yet when read vertically, all of the elements in the same group have the same number of electrons.
   How represented?
      The atomic symbol would be represented by one or two letters. For example “H” would represent hydrogen.
3 paragraph(for what):
   What is the use?
      It helps not only to simplify chemistry now, but new elements can be predicted.
   How many?
      October 16, 2006, scientists know of 117 different elements.
   What can you see?
      The table contains basic information about it including the atomic number, atomic symbol, and atomic mass.
Conclusion(use):
   Why used?
      The periodic table has helped to establish the properties & values of both new & old elements.  
   By who used?
      The table is used every day by hundreds of people around the world.
   When used?
Bibliography:
   http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/phy03.sci.phys.matter.ptabledoc/
   http://www.bookrags.com/essay-2004/6/29/175610/745
   http://custom-writing.co.uk/blog/essay/periodic-table-essay
   http://education.jlab.org/qa/element.html
   
p.s. I also found a weird game about elements: 
      http://education.jlab.org/elementhangman/prob204.html
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