Valence: An App for Teaching Chemical BondingLisa B. Lewis and Alex M. Clark July 16, 2014

Students and mobile devicesin CHEM 121

*A different vision of the way people will access information, learn, amuse themselves and create material with others is emerging.

*(Apps are) ubiquitous, powerful, and strongly structured, and Gardner and Davis argue that theyre changing the way we think. Young people growing up in our time are not only immersed in apps, they write, theyve come to think of the world as an ensemble of apps, to see their lives as a string of ordered apps,- Howard GardnerMobile devices to change education?The Web is Dead. Long Live the Internet, http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/08/ff_webrip/ & The Future of Apps and Web, http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Future-of-Apps-and-Web.aspx & Is There an App for That? By K. Xue, Harvard Magazine Nov.-Dec. 2013.

--Just-in-time information--

62% of the entire adult population have used their cell/smartphone within the last 30 days to:*find information to settle an argument, *solve an unexpected problem,*get up-to-the-minute traffic information,*decide on a restaurant, etc.Mobile devices to change education?Pew Internet & American Life Project, http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Just-in-time.aspxt

http://www.cellphonebeat.com/5-reasons-sleep-cellphone.htmlMobile devices to change education?

How smartphones make people feelKPCB Internet Trends Report, Meeker and Wu, May 2013. http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/great-lecture-what-was-it-about-again/2004222.article#

Our vision for mobile apps...http://www.tecca.com/columns/how-to-deal-with-your-partners-gadget-obsession/* Provide immediate access

* Fun (exciting)

* Sense of accomplishment (productive)

* Social (connected)

* Playful (to encourage curiosity)

Our design principles...

* Learning goal centric

* Provide some background

* Test understanding

* Games, play & sharing

Native iOS app - Valence

* Tactile - move electrons to make bonds

* Visual - color coding provides contextual clues

*Audio music plays with success

*Fun

Native iOS app - Valence*Limited narrative

* Individual lessons

*Increasing complexity

* Reflection questions

Native iOS app - ValenceNative iOS app - Valence*Five lessons (levels): main group hydridesmultiple bondssmall moleculespolyatomic ions exceptions to octet rule

* Can make mistakes

* Individual study or in class

Native iOS app - Valence

* Future:

Additional lessons

Chemical intelligence

Built-in analytics Game Center

Assessment of webapps* AcidBase: Understand concept of acid/base strength; Be able to recognize strong acids and bases

* Shakespeare Sonnets: To understand the poems meanings and how rhyme and meter impact meaning.

Assessment results for AcidBase* Students with access to AcidBase mastered recognition of strong acids sooner than those who were not given ready access to the app.

% Correct in Listing the Strong Acids, Spring 2012CHEM 121, section A(had use of AcidBase webapp)

Perfect Recognition CHEM 121, section B(did not have access to AcidBase webapp)

Perfect RecognitionSurprise Quiz 141%(7 of 17)59%(10 of 17)25%(6 of 24)29%(7 of 24)Surprise Quiz 267%(12 of 18)83%(15 of 18)48%(11 of 23)65%(15 of 23)Surprise Quiz 381%(13 of 16)88%(14 of 16)76%(19 of 25)92%(23 of 25)

Time on task, as reported by the students

Time CHEM 121 Students Spent Using AcidBaseSpring 20120 minutes22.7% (5 of 22)< 5 minutes13.6% (3 of 22)5-10 minutes27.3% (6 of 22)10-15 minutes22.7% (5 of 22)15-30 minutes13.6% (3 of 22)> 30 minutes0% (0 of 22)

Using AcidBase in the classroom...*Pre-test.

*Brief lecture on acid/base definitions.

*Students use AcidBase app in class.

*Post-test.Avg. pre-test score = 6.7/12; Avg. post-test score = 9.6/12

Initial Assessment for Valence* My 10 year old daughter, no chemistry experience, plays with Valence for fun!

* Completed reflection questions for first two levels.

* Successfully pointed to where the lone pair is located on the 3-D model of NH3 & wrote the correct 2-D representations for SiH4 and H2Se.

* Device diversity

Valence only for iPad, iPhone and iTouch Browsers read and render webapp code in different ways.

* Assessment

* Refine, update design

Challenges & future efforts

Why consider using these devices in the classroom?4th Grade Science Fair Project

To begin their experiment, they needed magnets, nails, paperclips, a compass, a hammer ....

...and TWO iPods (stopwatch, camera, Google)!

These devices coming soon... KPCB Internet Trends Report, Meeker and Wu, May 2013.

Acknowledgements* Ian MacInnes, Professor & Chair of English, Rachel B. and Emma Stapley, 16

*Guy Cox, Director, Ferguson Center for Technology-Aided Teaching & Learning

*Albion College Institutional Review Board & Chemistry and English students and faculty

*Albion College Hewlett-Mellon Faculty Development Fund

*Great Lakes Colleges Association as part of its New Directions Initiative, made possible by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

MOLECULAR MATERIALS INFORMATICS

*Chemistry Apps11Mobile MolecularDataSheet (MMDS)MolSyncSAR TableMolPrime+MolPrimeGreen SolventsLab SolventsApproved DrugsReaction101Yield101Living MoleculesTB MobileChemSpiderSPRESImobileOpen DrugDiscovery Teams

Lisa B. LewisDepartment of ChemistryAlbion CollegeAlbion, MI 49224

email: lblewis@albion.eduphone: (517) 629-0252

Contact informationAlex Clark President Molecular Materials Informatics Montreal, Canada email: aclark.xyz@gmail.com

Device diversity is a challenge.

Finishing polishing the UI, ensuring its intuitive and have good representation of samples. Submitting to Apple review this week.

Programming - Ive become a programmer and its not my strength...

Slower download for webapp. Possible bandwidth issues....[DRAMA] Oh, The challenges...Oh, The opportunities....