Counting Atoms & Elements - Student Choice Projects - MS

Engage your middle school students with these student-led choice projects designed to reinforce their understanding of counting elements and atoms in chemical formulas.
Aligned with middle school chemistry standards, this flexible and creative resource allows students to select a project format that best fits their learning style while demonstrating mastery in an engaging, personalized way.

The project choice board features six student-led options plus a “design your own” project, encouraging creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking.
An editable grading rubric makes assessment easy and consistent for teachers, peers, or self-evaluation, assessing key criteria such as vocabulary, concepts, clarity, and accuracy.

Flexible, Creative, and Student-Centered

These Student Choice Projects are built for flexibility, differentiation, and engagement.
Teachers can easily modify the rubric to meet grading preferences or classroom goals. Students can choose from multimodal project options—written, visual, digital, or hands-on—to demonstrate what they’ve learned about identifying and counting atoms and elements in chemical formulas.

This approach promotes ownership, critical thinking, and problem-solving, helping every student connect science concepts to real-world understanding.

What’s Included

• Nine student choice project options plus a “design your own” project

• Teacher Directions page with guidance, classroom tips, and differentiation suggestions

• Editable rubric pages assessing vocabulary, content understanding, presentation quality, clarity, and accuracy

Differentiated for Every Learner

This resource includes two versions of the project page for easy differentiation:

• A modified version with three scaffolded project options for students needing additional support or remediation

• A standard version for grade-level or advanced learners, with the option to assign multiple projects using the same rubric for enrichment or challenge

Differentiation is built right in—no extra prep required!

Simple Supplies, Maximum Creativity

No special materials needed!
The Counting Elements & Atoms Student Choice Projects use common classroom supplies such as paper, markers, and scissors.
Many of the projects can also be completed digitally, making this resource perfect for in-person, hybrid, or virtual learning environments.

For students who enjoy hands-on learning, optional craft materials can be used to build models or create visual displays representing atoms, elements, and compounds.