Journal
COMPUTERS & EDUCATION
Volume 81, Issue -, Pages 69-81Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.compedu.2014.09.009
Keywords
Chemistry; Diagrams; Models; Virtual; Constrained interactivity
Funding
- National Science Foundation [DRL-1008650]
- National Academy of Education/Spencer Postdoctoral Fellowship Program
- Direct For Education and Human Resources [1008650] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Division Of Undergraduate Education [1008650] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Virtual models are increasingly used in science education, especially in spatially demanding domains. However, few studies have directly compared the effectiveness of virtual and concrete models, or systematically characterized differences between them. Here, we compared students' accuracy and efficiency using virtual and concrete models to align and produce different representations in the domain of organic chemistry. Naive undergraduate students learned the conventions of different molecular representations (diagrams and models) and then performed tasks that involved matching models to diagrams and using models to complete diagrams. The results indicated similar levels of accuracy for virtual and concrete models and greater efficiency for virtual models. Students preferred virtual models, but rated the usability of the two model types about equally. The efficiency benefit associated with using virtual models can be explained by their constrained interactivity, which prevented students from making task-irrelevant manipulations and increased the salience of the task-relevant information in the models. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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