Brian is not alone. There are hundreds of teachers out there who are teaching chemistry and who need their students to know the periodic table….and so it is likely that someone has already invested the time into creating a solution and that they have shared it on the web. I did a quick search for the Periodic table and Voila! – an interactive table that linked to a very comprehensive explanation of each element appeared. I then search periodic table quiz and again, a ready made solution was available.
Here is the link to the quiz by Sporcle. http://www.sporcle.com/games/g/elements.
The game has a timer and randomly quizzes the user on the name of elements based on their location in the table.
They also have a game for Name that element and single letter elements. The results can be posted on a facebook or twitter page, emailed and you can challenge friends. As an assignment, Brian could require the students to repeatedly attempt this test and submit their results to his email. This way he is ensuring that they review the table, that they provide an assessment of their work and he provides students with a method of tracking their own improvements.