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MolyPoly: A 3D Immersive Gesture Controlled Approach to Visuo-Spatial Learning of Organic Chemistry

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Computer-Human Interaction. Cognitive Effects of Spatial Interaction, Learning, and Ability (OzCHI 2013)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 8433))

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Abstract

Currently, first-year chemistry students learn about three-dimensional molecular structures using a combination of lectures, tutorials, and practical hands-on experience with molecular chemistry kits. We have developed a basic 3D molecule construction simulation, called MolyPoly. The system was designed to augment the teaching of organic chemistry by helping students grasp the concepts of chemistry through visualisation in an immersive environment, 3D natural interaction, and audio lesson feedback. This paper presents the results of a pilot study conducted with a first-year chemistry class at the University of Tasmania. Participating students were split into two groups: MolyPoly group (no lecturer in the sessions) and traditional classroom group during the four in-semester classroom sessions over a period of two weeks. We present our comparative analyses over the knowledge-based pretest and posttest of the two groups, by discussing the overall improvement as well as investigating the improvement over the test questions with different knowledge difficulty levels and different required spatial knowledge.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the support of a Provost Visiting Scholars Program at the University of Tasmania that enabled us to form an international research team. We also would like to acknowledge the contribution of an undergraduate final year project team, MolyMod, who in 2012 helped create the motivation and original conceptual prototype upon which this project was built and Jonathan O’Duffy of the HIT Lab AU for his help during the initial development of MolyPoly in 2013.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Human Interface Technology Laboratory Australia (HIT Lab AU), School of Engineering and ICT, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia

    Winyu Chinthammit, SooJeong Yoo & Callum Parker

  2. School of Chemistry, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia

    Susan Turland

  3. Active Work Laboratory, Faculty of Education, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia

    Scott Pedersen

  4. Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, USA

    Wai-Tat Fu

Authors
  1. Winyu Chinthammit
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  2. SooJeong Yoo
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  3. Callum Parker
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  4. Susan Turland
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  5. Scott Pedersen
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  6. Wai-Tat Fu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Winyu Chinthammit .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Flinders University, Bedford Park, South Australia, Australia

    Theodor Wyeld

  2. Flinders University, Bedford Park, South Australia, Australia

    Paul Calder

  3. Flinders University, Bedford Park, South Australia, Australia

    Haifeng Shen

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Chinthammit, W., Yoo, S., Parker, C., Turland, S., Pedersen, S., Fu, WT. (2015). MolyPoly: A 3D Immersive Gesture Controlled Approach to Visuo-Spatial Learning of Organic Chemistry. In: Wyeld, T., Calder, P., Shen, H. (eds) Computer-Human Interaction. Cognitive Effects of Spatial Interaction, Learning, and Ability. OzCHI 2013. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 8433. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16940-8_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16940-8_8

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16939-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16940-8

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