Do your students struggle with Bohr models? It can be hard to know how many electron shells to draw and where exactly to put those electrons. To compensate, your students try to come up with a way to memorize Bohr models instead of knowing HOW to actually draw them. Which, if you ask me, completely defeats the purpose of learning them. I’ve moved to using the Periodic Table as a way to truly understand how Bohr models are drawn.
Teach Bohr Models the Easy Way—With the Periodic Table
Bohr models aren’t just bullseyes or cute doodles to add to a chemistry notes page! They’re REAL life pictures of REAL LIFE things. So it’s important to get them right. Here’s how I teach my students to draw Bohr Models:
- Determine the number of protons that should be written using the periodic table. At this point students know that the atomic number is the name of the number of protons.
- Round the mass to a whole number and subtract the number of protons to determine the number of neutrons. They learn more about the concept of average atomic mass a few days later when I teach isotopes. If students ask, I simply tell them “the closest whole number represents the typical atom of that element.” So that’s what we work with for now.
- They then “draw” the nucleus. Really they write X p and X n for protons and neutrons. We don’t actually draw the numbers of protons and neutrons!
- Use the period number to determine the number of electron levels. I’m introducing this concept for the first time in the Bohr models lesson, but it comes up again when I teach electron configuration in the Periodic Table Unit.
- Last, students count how deep into the period an element is to determine the number of electrons.
- The first shell is paired with the first period. That’s H and He, so 2 electrons.
- The second shell has 8 electrons total. But if carbon is the 4th element in the period, you’d only add 4 electrons to that second level.
Getting Bohr Models Practice
To reinforce this, we do lots of Bohr model practice using only the periodic table as a reference. It gives students confidence—and helps them see patterns instead of random rules.
Show What You Know Questions
After teaching with my guided notes lesson, my students complete Show What You Know questions. These are self assessment questions that are embedded in the notes. What I love most about the SWYK questions is that I give students the answers in class. They get to check their own work and assess progress. I encourage them to ask questions and make sure they feel confident before moving on. The best part is that they have the questions and answers in their notebooks to study from. Which means, if I give a graded assignment, I’m not in a huge rush to get it back to them so they have study material for their test.
Quick Practice Worksheet
After writing my guided notes curriculum, the teachers that were using it wanted more practice. So I developed my Quick Practice Worksheets. These are exactly what they sound like. Short and sweet chemistry worksheets. And the one for Bohr models is very simple. It can be used in class for more practice, homework or tomorrow’s bell ringer activity.
Bohr Models Mystery Activity
Once students have the basics down, it’s time to make Bohr model practice more fun—and a lot more memorable. In my Bohr Models Mystery activity where students solve a whodunit-style mystery by answering Bohr model questions. There are 36 suspects, each with their own name, birthday, and hobby. Students are assigned one suspect each (or more, depending on class size). As they work through the Bohr model questions, they uncover clues about the culprit. They use these clues to narrow down the suspect list until only one remains—the culprit!
Whether you’re working with a whole class or just one student, the mystery is flexible. With a large class, each student can take one suspect. With fewer students, or for individual work, you can print all suspects on a single page and let one student act as a detective.
Why This Bohr Model Practice Works
- Students are reading the periodic table for understanding, not just memorizing.
- Every question leads back to the content you want them to master.
- The mystery format builds excitement and keeps students motivated to finish.
- It’s adaptable for any group size—and great for early finishers or sub plans too.
If you’re looking for Bohr model practice that actually helps students learn and retain the content, give the mystery activity a try. It’s one of those lessons your students will talk about long after the unit is over! I have a growing collection of mystery activities you can use in your chemistry classroom.
Need EVEN MORE Bohr Models Practice?
I’m a big fan of card sort activities! I find that chemistry is a lot of “this or that.” Endothermic or Exothermic? Acid or Base? Try out this free card sort with your students – Atom or Ion? While I would save it for the bonding unit, where I choose to teach about ions, this would be great spiral review of Bohr models when you get there!
