Do Haptic Representations Help Complex Molecular Learning?

July 1st, 2011 | RESEARCH

This study explored whether adding a haptic interface (that provides users with somatosensory information about virtual objects by force and tactile feedback) to a three-dimensional (3D) chemical model enhanced students' understanding of complex molecular interactions. Two modes of the model were compared in a between-groups pre- and posttest design. In both modes, users could move and rotate virtual 3D representations of the chemical structures of the two molecules, a protein and a small ligand molecule. In addition, in a haptic mode users could feel the interactions (repulsive and attractive) between molecules as forces with a haptic device. Twenty postgraduate students (10 in each condition) took pretests about the process of protein--ligand recognition before exploring the model in ways suggested by structured worksheets and then completing a posttest. Analysis addressed quantitative learning outcomes and more qualitatively students' reasoning during the learning phase. Results showed that the haptic system helped students learn more about the process of protein-ligand recognition and changed the way they reasoned about molecules to include more force-based explanations. It may also have protected students from drawing erroneous conclusions about the process of protein-ligand recognition observed when students interacted with only the visual model.

Document

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Team Members

Petter Bivall, Author, Linkoping University
Shaaron Ainsworth, Author, University of Nottingham
Lena Tibell, Author, Linkoping University

Citation

Identifier Type: DOI
Identifier: 10.1002/sce.20439
Identifier Type: ISSN
Identifier: 0036-8326

Publication: Science Education
Volume: 95
Number: 4
Page(s): 700

Related URLs

EBSCO Full Text

Tags

Audience: Educators | Teachers | Museum | ISE Professionals | Youth | Teen (up to 17)
Discipline: Chemistry | Education and learning science
Resource Type: Peer-reviewed article | Research Products
Environment Type: Games | Simulations | Interactives | Media and Technology