The development of a Visual‐Perceptual Chemistry Specific (VPCS) assessment tool

Abstract

The development of the Visual-Perceptual Chemistry Specific (VPCS) assessment tool is based on items that align to eight visual-perceptual skills considered as needed by chemistry students. This tool includes a comprehensive range of visual operations and presents items within a chemistry context without requiring content knowledge to solve correctly. The VPCS was administrated to a total of 2,713 chemistry students taking general, organic, inorganic, and physical chemistry courses at a large, southeastern university over a period of three academic years. The preliminary validation process involved primarily factor analysis and Item Response Theory. A three-factor solution was considered appropriate with the most reasonable interpretation labeling Factor 1 as a general visual-spatial skill, Factor 2 involving multiple viewpoints (frames of reference), and Factor 3 related to memory ability. Our analysis supports an interpretation relevant to chemistry instruction that departs from previous findings where the factors obtained were viewed in terms of static or kinetic qualities (mechanical) and/or two-dimensional versus threedimensional aspects. Several interpretations for the three-factor solution are discussed as well as implications for teaching and future research. # 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 51:963-981, 2014.

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“…127 The latest instrument developed is the Visual-Perceptual Chemistry Specific (VPCS) assessment tool which aims to fulfill the need to test depth cues (Figure 2A) on images more related to chemistry content and to expand the set of visual−perceptual skills tested. 128 For example, the VPCS uses molecular drawings and crystal arrays instead of generic blocks when using depth cues to test spatial manipulation. Factor analysis revealed the VPCS tool measures three factors: general spatial skill, multiple viewpoints, and memory ability.…”