The periodic system and 19th-century chemical pedagogy: the collective creativity of science classrooms

The periodic system is one of the fundamental components of contemporary science. It plays a relevant role in both the collective memory of the chemical community and the public image of chemistry. These features create a wide spectrum of opportunities for using its history in educational projects. This paper relies on the recent scholarship on the history of the periodic system in order to explore its potential didactic uses. My main claim is that the periodic system was an out-standing result of the collective creativity related to 19th-century classroom science.
keywords: Periodic system, Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev, Auguste Cahours, chemical education, history of chemistry.