Keeping it handy - and working

At the end of a 3-D periodic table introduction lesson, students may bring the DeskTopper home, show the family, stick a bottom to it, put it on their desk, and stand pencils and pens in it - where it serves as decoration, caddy, and a reminder of that first day for many years - right under a copy of the wall chart (where they can see all the elements at once, ...without spilling the pencils.)

Students’ minds and hands learned where the parts and connections of a periodic table really should be by making the DeskTopper, and now, on their desk, is a reminder of how the periodic table came into their lives.