The Project

First Edition (2019)

The year 2019 was declared the International Year of the Periodic Table, and to mark this occasion, and to enthuse and inspire school students about STEM subjects (chemistry in particular), we assembled ‘sample sets’ of pure chemical elements and distributed them FREE to secondary schools all around Australia (with a limit of one set per school). Approximately half the secondary schools in Australia were contacted and offered at set, with priority given to remote, rural, low SEO and government schools. In all, 600 sets were distributed, and it was estimated that these will benefit around 50,000 students per year.

Each set contained between 30 and 33 samples of pure elements (depending on individual state advice and regulations), meaning that almost 20,000 individual samples were separated from the bulk samples and loaded into sample containers, which were then each individually labelled. Each set also contained a specially written 36-page booklet describing the properties and applications of each element in the set. Each set was also accompanied by an electronic set of Teachers’ Notes (also available for download from this website) with information on safety and upkeep of the set, suggested classroom activities, and other information.

Second Edition (2023)

In 2022 we started making a new round of 1000 element sets, for distribution in 2023 onwards (until we run out of sets). These new sets will now contain 37 elements each, and the First Edition sets will also receive an ‘expansion pack’ to upgrade them to the Second Edition contents. As part of this new edition, we are also developing a suite of class plans using the set, which will be available on the Resources page of this website.

Head to Twitter (#elementsets) for ongoing updates…