Students? Visualization and Conceptual Understanding of Atomic Orbitals Using a Virtual Environment

In order to understand various aspects of student understanding of atomic orbitals, we have built a 3-D virtual environment – “Virtual Water” – to support the learning of some concepts of Physics and Chemistry at the final high school and first-year university levels. It is centered in the microscopic structure of water and explores, among others, concepts related to atomic and molecular orbitals. We have made a qualitative study with twenty first year students of Science and Engineering courses at the University of Coimbra, Portugal. Being asked to describe their views about how they conceive electrons in an atom before seeing “Virtual Water”, students revealed some misconceptions. We have tried, with partial success, to overcome them by making students explore the virtual environment.