Have your students signed up for individual accounts? If you have a school-wide subscription to BrainPOP, students will be able to use the SnapThought ® tool to play Collisions: Ionic Bonding.

The SnapThought tool allows students to capture meaningful moments in their game play with opportunities for brief written reflection. To use the tool, start by making sure students are logged into My BrainPOP with their own individual accounts. Once students are logged in, the SnapThought tool will appear below any games that offer this capability.

During game play, students can click the SnapThought tool up to five times. A thumbnail, or “snapshot” is generated and stored on the bottom left of the screen.  At any point in the game, students can click their snapshot(s), type a brief reflection, which may be a response to an open-ended prompt, and save or submit to the teacher’s account for you to review and respond to.

You can use the SnapThought tool to facilitate discussion around game play and strategies, or have students submit their snapshots to you for assessment or accountability. Here are a few ideas and prompts for using the SnapThought tool in Collisions: Ionic Bonding.

  • Before you play, take a snapshot. What do you already know about ions? What factors do you think will determine how the ions bond together?
  • After you play Level 1 take a snapshot, why do you think these ions bond together?
  • After you play Level 3 take a snapshot, why do you think the same number of charge rings are needed to form a bond?
  • Before you play Level 4, take a snapshot. What strategies will you use now that you have many choices of ions?
  • After you play Level 4, take a snapshot. How did your strategy work out?
  • During Level 5 try to combine 2 negative ions. Take a snapshot and describe what happens.
  • During Level 5 try to combine 2 positive ions. Take a snapshot and describe what happens.
  • After you play Level 5, take a snapshot. What were the challenges of creating a bond  with a 2:1 ratio? What things did you need to take into consideration?
  • After playing Level 6, take a snapshot. Now that you’re done playing what do you think is needed for ions to bond together? What factors need to be taken into consideration when making these bonds?
  • Take a snapshot when you create a compound that has more positive ions than negative ions. What is the overall charge of this compound? Why?
  • Take a snapshot when you create a compound that has more negative ions than positive ions. What is the overall charge of this compound? Why?