OrganicPad: an interactive freehand drawing application for drawing Lewis structures and the development of skills in organic chemistry

Abstract

Lewis structures are important for learning chemistry as they serve as an essential link between the structure of chemical compounds and their function. Unfortunately, the creation of valid Lewis structures remains an elusive goal for many students. In recent years, several web-based programs have been created that allow students to receive immediate feedback on the structures that they draw; however, the interface in most of these programs is not naturalistic, and there is a significant learning curve for students. This article describes the development, features, and pilot testing of OrganicPad, an innovative and user-friendly program that has been designed to allow students to draw Lewis structures by using the natural user interface of a Tablet PC.

Exploring Student Thinking about Addition Reactions

“…Increasingly, there also exist applications which can also support students working through organic structures and mechanisms. [22][23][24] The app used in this study, "Mechanisms", may provide students with additional sources of knowledge about the progress of the reaction. This may take the form of an operation depicted by a task card to students at the beginning of a puzzle or a hint in the app directing students to consider how the concept of carbocation stabilization through resonance applies syntactically to inform the operation they perform.…”

The tip of the iceberg in organic chemistry classes: how do students deal with the invisible?

“…Throughout their studies, undergraduate and graduate students seemed to be able to draw correct arrows, but they were not using them as a tool to explain and predict mechanistic steps. Grove et al (2012a) investigated the spontaneous use of mechanisms with second-year organic chemistry science majors in a quantitative study, using OrganicPad as the primary data collection tool (Cooper et al, 2009). They noticed that the use of mechanisms placed a high cognitive demand on students and that some students rather opted not to use them.…”

Gaussian-2-Blender: An Open-Source Program for Conversion of Computational Chemistry Structure Files to 3D Rendering and Printing File Formats

“…Chemistry visualization tools aim to help students understand concepts and develop representational skills through supporting their visuospatial thinking . These tools might help users who differ in visuospatial abilities to understand spatially challenging concepts. , Visualization tools can take the forms of physical models, − conventional computer programs, − simulations, − augmented reality (AR) applications, − and virtual reality (VR) experiences. − For 3D printing of molecules, it is necessary first to convert them to 3D objects. The same first step is needed to import molecules into AR or VR environments, as the programs to build these environments (e.g., Unity or Unreal) do not support chemical data files.…”

“…This project was born from the necessity of converting results from Gaussian16 frequency calculations into 3D objects, and it became evident that the program can be used in several different applications. The visualization tools − are examples in which Gaussian-2-Blender can be used.…”