17.2 Chemist-curated Educational Technologies
17.2.1 The AR Mobile App—NuPOV (Android, iOS)
Chemistry
Organic chemistry is one of the complex branches of chemistry that relies heavily on spatial-visualisation skills to understand concepts such as reac- tion mechanisms. At NUS Chemistry, freshmen chemistry students enroll in the course Organic Chemistry I (code: CM1121) as a partial fulfilment of the Bachelor of Science degree.6 The Learning Outcomes (LO) for CM1121 are shown in Table 17.1.
As members of the teaching team, we observed that our students often had difficulties translating two-dimensional (2D) molecular structures and reactions to three-dimensional (3D) space.
To help students in addressing this difficulty, educators frequently use the physical molecular model kits during lesson to demonstrate organic
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chemistry concepts to students. The use of these tangible kits, however, poses problems as well. If the lecture is conducted in a large lecture theatre, students may not be able to clearly see the molecular models that the educa- tor is holding. Some educators approach this problem by passing the molec- ular models around the class after explaining the concepts, while carrying on with the lesson. In this case, students will have to focus on two things at once—maneuvering the molecular model and paying attention to the lecture.
17.2.1.2 Equity in Accessible Digital Technology to Support Spatial Visualisation Skills Training
Fortunately, smartphones are ubiquitous in Singapore. Therefore, we elected to develop an AR chemical application compatible with these devices so that students can visualise and interact with molecules in 3D with their own personal devices, thus training their spatial-visualisation skills. While there are many applications on the market that possess such features such as “element 3D” by Yang, Mei, and Yue,7 and “AR assisted visualisation” by eriksen, Nielsen, and pittelkow,8 none of these applications specifically target organic chemistry reaction mechanisms. Furthermore, many of these apps lack user-interactivity, which is crucial in allowing students to understand and appreciate how molecules undergo changes during a reaction.9 Thus, we partnered with the software engineers and educational technologists from NUS Information Technology to create a mobile app for our students.
The general premise of the app is to enable our freshmen organic chemis- try students to visualise using AR how molecules undergo structural changes to give the product after a successful chemical reaction. For the choice of reaction, we first selected nucleophilic addition as this is one of the funda- mental reactions in organic chemistry.10 Thus, it is essential for our fresh- men students to have a good understanding of this concept so that they can have the confidence to study more complex reaction mechanisms. To address the user interactivity of our app, we implemented a gaming element where users aim a green cannon on-screen containing nucleophiles and shoots them towards an AR generated electrophile. A reaction is determined successful when the nucleophile approaches the electrophile at the correct angle of attack from the right direction, and the user will be able to observe Table 17.1 Learning outcomes for the freshmen organic chemistry course at NUS.
S/N Learning outcomes (LO) for CM1121
1 Apply and evaluate simple organic reaction transformations, functional group interconversion and C–C bond formation reactions
2 Describe the mechanisms of organic reactions
3 Distinguish between R/S and E/Z configurations and differentiate the taxonomy in stereochemistry
4 Describe and account for the chemical reactivity of reaction
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how the molecules change structurally to form the product molecule.11,12 As this gaming element and observation of the molecule are taken from the perspective of the nucleophile, we named our AR app Nucleophile’s point of View (NupOV).
NupOV is accessible and affordable to users due to its availability on mobile app stores free of charge (Android, iOS). Users without background knowledge of Nucleophilic Addition reaction, such as non-majors, can still reap the benefits of using NupOV by interacting and observing how mole- cules undergo changes during a successful reaction, thereby enhancing their spatial-visualisation skills. For users with some background knowledge of the reaction, they can enhance their understanding of the concept further by virtue of Mayer’s principle of Multimedia Learning13 through interacting with the visual elements provided by NupOV.
17.2.1.3 Applying NuPOV in Our Class
After developing NupOV, we conducted a pre-intervention questionnaire to ascertain students’ confidence in their perceived understanding of organic chemistry concepts. We then introduced the app to CM1121 students during the lesson. The NupOV team guided students through the installation pro- cess, followed by a guide on how to use the app. Henceforth, students were given a few weeks to use the app in their own time. After which we conducted a post-intervention questionnaire to determine if there are any changes in students’ perception of their understanding in organic chemistry. Overall, 65% of the 87 students surveyed indicated an increase in perceived confi- dence in solving harder questions related to nucleophilic addition. In addi- tion, there were more students who responded that they felt more confident teaching and learning the concept through informal peer interactions after using NupOV compared to before using it. A limitation in our study is that as students have other learning opportunities, it is difficult to establish that NupOV is what actually enables students to have greater confidence in solving harder questions related to nucleophilic addition and not to other variables.
17.2.1.4 Options for NuPOV
NupOV was curated to fulfil three out of the four LO for CM1121, namely LO1, LO2 and LO4. While these LO has yet to be assessed solely through the use of NupOV, the app offers an opportunity for students to work towards these LO. Moreover, NupOV may also support students in understanding the con- ditions required for nucleophilic addition to take place, thus students will be able to account for the chemical reactivity for the reaction to take place.
NupOV offers them the opportunity to distinguish the spatial arrangement of molecules, enabling the students to differentiate between the various ste- reoisomers of the molecule. Finally, the use of NupOV can take place after
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attending the class on Nucleophilic addition to reinforce concepts learned afterwards. More details related to NupOV can be found in the article by Aw and colleagues.11 The project has also been featured in Higher education Campus Conference hosted by NUS,14 as a book chapter,15 and on the Media
& Learning website.16