Design of a Virtual Reality System for the Study of Diagram Use in Organic Chemistry

Organic chemists must be adept at relating different 2D diagrammatic representations of molecules while also understanding their 3D structure. Concrete (3D) models can aid students in developing these aspects of representational competence but a growing trend is to incorporate virtual 3D models into instruction. In this paper, we describe the design of a virtual reality system to investigate how students use virtual models, for learning about different structural diagrams common in organic chemistry. We follow with preliminary results of a study comparing the relative effectiveness of virtual versus concrete models. Participants performed tasks using either virtual or concrete models to match or to complete three different types of molecular diagrams. The preliminary results suggest a benefit of using virtual models over concrete models.