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- Title
Do haptic representations help complex molecular learning?
- Authors
Bivall, Petter; Ainsworth, Shaaron; Tibell, Lena A. E.
- Abstract
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. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 700-719, 2011
- Subjects
HAPTIC devices; MOLECULAR models; CHEMICAL models; PROTEIN-protein interactions; QUANTITATIVE research; QUALITATIVE research; LANGUAGE &; education; SEMANTICS; POSTSECONDARY education
- Publication
Science Education, 2011, Vol 95, Issue 4, p700
- ISSN
0036-8326
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1002/sce.20439