Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
PAPER
We present the results of a study designed to provide insight into interactive simulation use during
guided-inquiry activities in chemistry classes. The PhET Interactive Simulations project at the University
of Colorado develops interactive simulations that utilize implicit rather than explicit scaolding to
support student learning through exploration and experimentation. In the study, 80 students in a
General Chemistry class were given ten minutes to explore the PhET simulation Molecule Polarity in selfselected groups, with no instructions on how to interact with the simulation. Using mouse click data,
audio recordings and clicker question responses, we investigated: students ability to use the simulation
by analyzing the extent to which they explored the simulation, the discussions students engaged in
during simulation use, and student perceptions of simulation use. We found eective simulation use,
with the 22 groups exploring an average of 18 of the 23 available features in Molecule Polarity. Sixtyfour percent of student utterances were part of on-topic (polarity) discussion segments, with most otopic discussions being intermittent and brief. Students largely found the simulation useful for their
learning and experienced either brief or no frustration during sim exploration. These results indicate
Received 26th November 2012,
Accepted 27th February 2013
that students in large classes can use interactive simulations designed with implicit scaolding through
DOI: 10.1039/c3rp20157k
simulation use. This work suggests that implicitly scaolded interactive simulations can provide
exploration, and can do so without frustration overwhelming the perception of value brought by the
environments that support guided-inquiry learning and channel students into productive inquiry while
www.rsc.org/cerp
Introduction
There is increasing development and use of simulations in
chemistry classrooms (Kozma et al., 1997; Abraham et al., 2001;
Stie and Wilensky, 2003; Xie and Tinker, 2006; Plass et al., 2012).
Previous work has shown the importance of simulation design.
For example, the presence of text and audio, as well as the location
and presence of dierent types of representations aect student
interpretation and use of simulations (Clark and Mayer, 2007;
Stie et al., 2011; Rodrigues, 2012; Rosenthal and Sanger, 2012).
How simulations are used in the classroom also plays an important role in its eectiveness. In particular, the amount and style of
guidance provided by the instructor and supporting materials are
key factors in how simulations are used and perceived by students
(Akaygun and Jones, 2013; Rutten et al., 2012).
This journal is
257
Paper
macroscopic, microscopic and/or symbolic representations
around a single concept. In this work, we investigate how
students use and perceive use of an interactive simulation
designed with implicit scaolding in a large chemistry class
when given no explicit use instructions.
The simulation used in this work is part of the PhET
Interactive Simulations suite, which includes a growing list of
over 30 chemistry specific simulations, available for free at
http://phet.colorado.edu (Lancaster et al., 2013, in press). PhET
interactive simulations (sims) are unique in that they are designed
specifically to support inquiry with minimal explicit guidance
through the use of implicit scaolding. Implicit scaolding is
scaolding built into the design elements and interactivity of PhET
sims resulting in students being guided without feeling guided
(Paul et al., 2012). Implicit scaolding shifts the source of guidance
from explicit, such as a set of written instructions, to implicit, where
the guidance is in the form of aordances and constraints designed
into the sim (Gibson, 1977; Norman, 1988; Podolefsky et al.,
unpublished work). The design, location, accessibility, presence
(or absence) and interactivity of each representation and tool in the
sims are carefully selected to guide students into productive inquiry
without the need for additional text or auditory guidance within the
sim. Each sim is student tested extensively during the design
process, ensuring that its design is intuitive and supports student
inquiry without requiring explicit guidance from sim use instructions. This design approach allows for flexible use by enabling
support through a range of external guidance styles from none or
minimally guided to highly guided.
This work details a baseline study of the interaction between
students and a PhET interactive sim in a large classroom
context without explicit guidance from a written activity sheet
or from instructor facilitation. From this data we can determine
in a classroom context how students use the sim, perceive
use of the sim and where explicit guidance may be beneficial
in the form of written questions to guide exploration and
instructor facilitation. To accomplish this task, we address
the following questions:
Can students use the sim without instructions?
Does the sim support content discussion?
Do students perceive sim interaction as easy and useful, or
frustrating and unproductive?
Methods
Data was collected from a single class period on the topics of
molecule geometry and polarity. Students were organized into
self-selected groups, ranging from 14 students each, with most
groups consisting of 3 students. Data consisted of video,
observation notes, mouse click data and audio recordings from
the 25 student groups, and student responses to clicker questions on ease-of-use, frustration and usefulness of the sim
for learning.
Class description
Data was collected from a class session in a General Chemistry I
course at a public university serving 23 000 students in the
258
This journal is
Paper
Sim description
The Molecule Polarity sim was designed to address the following
learning goals for students: predict bond polarity using electronegativity values, indicate polarity with an arrow or partial
charge symbols, rank bonds in order of polarity and predict
molecular polarity using bond polarity and molecule shape. To
target these goals, the sim was designed with three tabs (Fig. 1).
Two Atoms tab. Upon opening the sim, students see the Two
Atoms tab. Here, students can increase and decrease the
electronegativity of generic atoms, and see in real-time how
this action aects the bond dipole of the two atom molecule
through the change in direction and size of the bond dipole arrow.
When students select Partial Charges, d+ and d symbols appear
which change in size and sign as electronegativity values are
changed. When students select Bond Character, they can explore
how the relative electronegativity aects the ionic or covalent
character of the bond. Students can select the Electrostatic
Potential surface in which blue indicates a positive potential
and red indicates a negative potential or they can select the
Electron Density surface in which darker shading indicates
greater electron density. When students turn on the electric
field, they can observe the relationship between polarity and
charge as they see how the molecule orients in the field. They
can rotate the molecule with the mouse and observe the
molecule as it returns to a preferred orientation. This visualization allows students to see a physical eect that results from the
polarity a physical property of the molecule.
Three Atoms tab. In the Three Atoms tab, the same basic
controls are used, but students can now explore how the relative
electronegativity and orientation of three atoms aect the molecular dipole. Students can adjust the bond angle and the electronegativity of each atom and observe the bond angles, bond dipole,
molecular dipole, and partial charges. When students turn on the
electric field, they can observe the relationship between polarity
and charge as they see how the molecule orients in the field. With
the additional complexity of three atoms, the critical distinction
between molecular dipole and bond dipole can be elucidated.
Real Molecules tab. In the Real Molecules tab, students can
select from 19 molecules and explore their bond dipoles,
molecular dipole, and partial charges in three dimensions. As
a result, students are able to discover how symmetry and
relative electronegativity work together to determine the polarity
of a molecule. By selecting Atom Electronegativities, students
are provided with a table that highlights the electronegativity of
each atom in the molecule, thus providing an opportunity to
relate electronegativity to the location of atoms in the periodic
table. Students can rotate the molecules in three dimensions,
which is particularly useful for a tetrahedral molecule such as
This journal is
Fig. 1 Two Atoms (upper), Three Atoms (middle) and Real Molecule (lower)
tabs of the Molecule Polarity sim.
259
Paper
Sim data
For 22 student groups, we collected the features tools and
representations students clicked on and the time of the clicks.
Note that students were not given explicit instructions on how
to interact with the sim, e.g., students were not instructed to
click on specific features. Students use of the sim involves
many individual interactions, including repeating actions
to make comparisons. For example, in the Two Atoms tab,
students tend to move the electronegativity sliders from less
to more and back many times, while observing the eect of
this change on the bond dipole. In one group (highlighted in
the transcript example in the Results section), the students
clicked a total of 74 times during the exploration time, and
used a total of 18 features. In this analysis, we focus on the use
of features for the first time, to determine the range of
exploration with respect to the available features. For example,
changing the electronegativity of Atom A for the first time
would count as a use of that electronegativity slider on that
tab. Further uses of the same feature on the same tab are not
included in the analysis below. Collection of this data required
students have the wireless Internet enabled on their computer
at the start of sim use. Sim use for three student groups was not
collected, likely due to a lack of Internet connection.
Sim features. Students can interact with many features
within the three tabs of Molecule Polarity (Table 1). For the
purposes of this analysis, we consider the use of 23 features not
on by default upon opening the sim. For example, when
students open the sim, they view the Two Atom tab with the
Table 1
95
95
68
91
82
95
86
68
73
77
82
36
36
45
55
64
95
100
100
100
95
100
100
260
This journal is
Table 2
Paper
Number of
utterances
Topic
Example transcript
S1: We did a lot of clicking yesterday. If you would like to do some clickingthat didnt last
very long. S1: I think Im gonna scootch over, make it easier. S1: Ok.
Polarity:
Sim, polarity & related topics
S1: Now Im not sure what the electric field is showing. Oh, there we go. S2: Oh. S1: OK.
So it is showing its attraction. OK. S2: Yeah, so this ones more attracted to the positive,
this ones more attracted. . . OK, that makes sense.
I: Uh-huh. So this molecular dipole, thats the overall, like, in balance, in charge present
in that molecule. S: OK. So since this is fluorine, its gonna pull that way all the time,
pretty much? I: Yup. S: Yup.
School:
Homework, Lab, etc. (Includes
non-chemistry courses)
S1: What tutor do you have? S2: I have [name], same one, right? S1: All three of us, right?
You got [name]? S2: Really? No way. Thats awesome.
Other:
Discussion not classified above
S1: I didnt work yesterday morning. I usually work at 5. I slept until 10. I cleaned my room.
I found $10 cleaning my room. S2: Nice. S1: Did all my laundry. It was really nice.
This journal is
261
Paper
Student discussion
Fig. 2 New feature use in the Two Atoms, Three Atoms and Real Molecules
tabs. Each line corresponds to one groups use of new features on that tab, circles
indicate new feature use.
Table 3
Tab
Possible
features
Two Atoms
8
Three Atoms
8
Real Molecules 7
All tabs
23
a
6.8
4.6
6.9
18.0
b
1.5
2.6
0.3
3.0
0.3
0.6
0.1
0.6
262
Feature use
This journal is
This journal is
Paper
gesture to indicate the trend of increasing electronegativity
coupled with the utterance at 3:53. The students then moved
on to exploring the bond character.
[selects Bond Character, moves Atom A electronegativity
from less to more slowly, sim shows change in bond
character from ionic to covalent]
4:00 S1: OK. Ionicso what would cause it to be covalent? Does
that mean that they would have to be
4:16 S2: the same.
4:17 S1: on the same side, right?
4:18 S2: Of the same atom, I think. The last two Os.
4:22 S1: OK, which makes sense, cause theyre both the same
with the negative. So if you were to go here [moves Atom A
electronegativity from more to the middle] and there [moves
Atom B electronegativity from more to the middle], its still
gonna be covalent. OK. [moves Atom B electronegativity from
middle to more, moves Atom A electronegativity from the
middle to more, pauses, and then from more to the middle]
In this excerpt, the students made a prediction when the
electronegativity of two bonded atoms are the same, the bond
will always be covalent and tested it with the sim. The
students then moved on to the Electrostatic Potential and
Electron Density views, and were confronted with a challenge
interpreting the Electron Density view.
[Selects Electrostatic Potential view]
4:50 S1: OK, that makes sense, dealing with the charge. [selects
Electron Density view, moves Atom A electronegativity from
middle to less]
5:08 S1: OK, so electron density deals with electronegativity, the
more dense it is, it has a higher electronegativity, right?
Why is that? I dont know, either.
S1 was able to determine a relationship, the higher the
electronegativity the higher the electron density, but was not
able to make sense of exactly what the Electron Density
surface view represented. The students decided to move on to
the Three Atoms tab rather than explore this question further
on the Two Atoms tab. In the Three Atoms tab, the students
investigated to make sense of the Molecular Dipole arrow.
5:35 Selects Three Atoms tab.
5:37 S1: [rotates molecule] Oh, wow. [moves Atom C electronegativity from less to middle, pauses, then moves to more]
5:42 S1: OK.
5:50 S1: So what is this [molecular dipole arrow] pointing to?
Im trying to think how this works here. [moves Atom C
electronegativity from more to less] More, less[moves
Atom B electronegativity from the middle to less then to
more, then back to the middle, moves Atom C electronegativity from more to the middle, pauses, then to less,
selects Partial Charges, then Bond Dipole]
6:26 S1: OK. So those are just like when we were lookin at the
two [Two Atoms tab].
6:35 S2: Yeah.
263
Paper
264
Table 4
Topic
Group arrangement
(prior to sim use)
Polarity
Polarity with instructor
School
Other
Utterances (%)
1832 in total
16
38
4
15
27
62
2
10
20
This journal is
Table 5
Paper
and what the students discussed. Student resistance to innovation in the classroom has been reported in the literature
(Phelps, 1996; Hein, 2012), so we also wanted to know if
students found the experience of using the sim with minimal
instruction easy and useful, or frustrating and useless. Here, we
present data on student perceptions of sim use, based on
responses to clicker questions asked immediately after exploration time (Table 5). Most students (70%) indicated that the sim
was easy or very easy to use. The remaining students
responded neutral, with no students responding that the
sim was dicult to use. This is consistent with observations
of the class during the exploration time and analysis of the
audio data; students were predominately using the sim and
discussing the sim topic, not discussing how to use the sim.
Regarding usefulness for learning and frustration, a large
majority of students (92%) responded that the sim would be
somewhat to very useful for their learning, and when asked if
they felt frustrated during sim use, only 11% of students
responded Yes. When asked to describe any frustration
with the sim, 57% of students responded that they had no
frustration, with 33% responding that they had experienced
very brief frustration. The no frustration and very brief
frustration responders made up 96% of students that
responded No to the previous yes/no frustration question.
Only 3% of students indicated feeling frustrated for a significant amount of time.
Possible study limitations
Prior to this study, students had used four PhET sims with
in-class activities. Student experience with the Molecule Polarity
sim could have been aected by these previous uses of PhET
sims, making the results we present dependent on prior
experience with PhET sims. We feel this does not diminish
the results, as informal feedback from PhET users suggests
Category
Question/prompt
Response (%)
Ease-of-use (N = 80)
29
41
30
0
0
Very useful
Useful
Somewhat useful
Mostly useless
Completely useless
8
37
47
7
1
Frustration (N = 80)
No
Yes
89
11
57
33
8
This journal is
3
0
265
Paper
266
Conclusion
In this study, students were given ten minutes of exploration
time with a PhET interactive sim without explicit instructions
on sim use. During this exploration time, students interacted
with the majority of features available and engaged in chemistry content (molecule polarity) discussions with intermittent
school or other discussions. After the exploration time, the
majority of students indicated that use of the sim was easy,
productive for their learning, and occurred without frustration.
Data on sim feature use indicates that students in large
lecture classes can use implicitly scaolded sims without
explicit instructions on how to use the sim. From analysis
of audio transcripts, we found that students engaged in content-rich discussions while being supported by the implicitly
scaolded interactive sim. This result suggests that it is
possible to have eective guided-inquiry group work in a large
lecture setting while minimizing the need for explicit instructions. This finding opens up opportunities, as well as further
questions, about the possible roles interactive simulations can
play in a guided-inquiry curriculum.
These findings suggest several promising avenues for
further research with the potential to lead to new classroom
innovations, such as detailed investigations of the mechanisms
through which implicit scaolding can support productive
inquiry, and ways to eectively couple and facilitate guidedinquiry activities with interactive simulations. With less explicit
instructions, students could feel more autonomous and more
competent while engaging in productive guided-inquiry with
the supports provided by an interactive simulation. This
change in students role could also result in increased interest
This journal is
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of
Sam Reid for sim data collection and analysis, Jesse Garrison
for his assistance in analysis of the audio transcripts and
the development team for the Molecule Polarity interactive
simulation, with design lead by Kelly Lancaster and software
development by Chris Malley. This work was funded by the
National Science Foundation (CCLI-0817582).
References
Abraham M. R., Gelder J. I. and Haines K., (2001), A web-based
molecular-level inquiry laboratory activity, Chem. Educ., 6,
307308.
Akaygun S. and Jones L. L., (2013), How does level of guidance
aect understanding when students use a dynamic simulation of liquidvapor equilibrium? in Devetak I. and Glazer
S. A. (ed.), Active Learning and Understanding in the Chemistry
Classroom, Springer, in press.
Bing T. J. and Redish E. F., (2012), Epistemic complexity and
the journeyman-expert transition, Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ.
Res., 8, 010105.
Camtasia Studio: Screen Recording and Editing Software, (2012),
Retrieved November 9, 2012, from http://www.techsmith.
com/camtasia.html.
Clark R. C. and Mayer R. E., (2007), in Ta R. (ed.), e-Learning
and the science of instruction: proven guidelines for consumers
and designers of multimedia learning, 3rd edn, San Francisco,
CA: Pfeier.
Farrell J. J., Moog R. S. and Spencer J. N., (1999), A guidedinquiry general chemistry course, J. Chem. Educ., 76,
570574.
Furtak E. M., Seidel T., Iverson H. and Briggs D. C., (2012),
Experimental and quasi-experimental studies of inquiry-based
science teaching: a meta-analysis, Rev. Educ. Res., 82, 300329.
Gibson J., (1977), The theory of aordances, in Shaw R. and
Bransford J. (ed.), in Perceiving, Acting, and Knowing: Toward
an Ecological Psychology, Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum,
pp. 6782.
Hein S. M., (2012), Positive impacts using POGIL in organic
chemistry, J. Chem. Educ., 89, 860864.
Hmelo-Silver C. E., Duncan R. G. and Clark A. C., (2007),
Scaolding and achievement in problem-based and inquiry
learning: a response to Kirschner, Sweller, and Clark (2006),
Educ. Psychol., 42, 99107.
This journal is
Paper
Jmol: an open-source Java viewer for chemical structures in 3D,
(2012), Retrieved November 9, 2012, from http://www.jmol.
org/.
Kozma R. B., Russell J. W., Jones T., Wyko J., Marx N. and
Davis J., (1997), Use of simultaneous-synchronized macroscopic, microscopic, and symbolic representations to
enhance the teaching and learning of chemical concepts,
J. Chem. Educ., 74, 330334.
Lancaster K., Moore E. B., Parson R. and Perkins K., (2013),
Insights from using PhETs design principles for chemistry
simulations, in Suits J. and Sanger M. (ed.), Pedagogic Roles
of Animations and Simulations, ACS Symposium Series, in
press.
Lee H.-S., Linn M. C., Varma K. and Liu O. L., (2010), How
do technology-enhanced inquiry science units impact classroom learning? J. Res. Sci. Teach., 47, 7190.
Lewis S. E., (2011), Retention and reform: an evaluation of
peer-led team learning, J. Chem. Educ., 88, 703707.
Lewis S. E. and Lewis J. E., (2005), Departing from lectures: an
evaluation of a peer-led guided inquiry alternative, J. Chem.
Educ., 82, 135139.
Norman D., (1988), The design of everyday things, New York:
Basic Books.
Paul A., Podolefsky N. and Perkins K., (2012), Guiding without
feeling guided: implicit scaolding through interactive
simulation design, Proceedings of the 2012 Physics Education
Research Conference, AIP Press.
Podolefsky N., Moore E. B. and Perkins K., unpublished
work.
Phelps A. J., (1996), Teaching to enhance problem solving: its
more than the numbers, J. Chem. Educ., 73, 301304.
Plass J. L., Milne C., Homer B. D., Schwartz R. N., Hayward
E. O., Jordan T., Verkuilen, J., et al., (2012), Investigating
the eectiveness of computer simulations for chemistry
learning, J. Res. Sci. Teach., 49, 394419.
Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning, (2012), Retrieved
November 9, 2012, from http://www.pogil.org.
Quitadamo I. J., Brahler C. J. and Crouch G. J., (2009), Peer-led
team learning: a prospective method for increasing
critical thinking in undergraduate science courses, Science,
18, 2939.
Rodrigues S., (2012), Using simulations in science: an exploration of pupil behaviour, in Issues and Challenges in Science
Education Research: Moving Forward, Berlin: Springer,
pp. 209223.
Rosenthal D. P. and Sanger M. J., (2012), Student misinterpretations and misconceptions based on their explanations
of two computer animations of varying complexity depicting
the same oxidationreduction reaction, Chem. Educ. Res.
Pract., 13, 471483.
Rutten N., van Joolingen W. R. and van der Veen J. T., (2012),
The learning eects of computer simulations in science
education, Comput. Educ., 58, 136153.
Schroeder J. D. and Greenbowe T. J., (2008), Implementing
POGIL in the lecture and the Science Writing Heuristic in
the laboratorystudent perceptions and performance in
267
Paper
268
This journal is