CHED 155 |
| The role of spatial thinking ability has been debated among chemical education researchers for some time. The purpose of this project was, in part, to determine how mental rotation ability and problem solving ability are related. Fourteen participants from two organic chemistry courses were asked to rate their abilities to rotate molecules mentally, and to visualize various operations such as in-plane and out-of-plane flipping of molecules. Problem solving tasks included: determining the relationship of a series of molecules, drawing rotations, and indicating geometry of atoms within molecules. Participants exhibited varying ability to achieve these mental rotations and visualizations, with those who had worked extensively with molecular models outperforming those who had not used modeling kits. Participants also described differing ways in which stereochemical relationships of pairs of molecules are determined. |
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General Posters
7:30 PM-9:30 PM, Sunday, March 25, 2007 Hyatt Regency Chicago -- Riverside Center, Poster
Division of Chemical Education |