Visualization skills in chemistry have been correlated to problem solving abilities and success in STEM courses. The Visualization to Invigorate Problem Solving project is determining whether the use of physical, 3-D models, specifically designed for the exploration and separation of multiple spatial operations, is an effective way to promote visualization skills in chemistry students. Specifically, the project is exploring how these models may assist students with learning strategies required in abstract topics, and which elements of interventions help students to formalize their thought processes in order to communicate their understanding. The research being conducted to accomplish this includes investigating the value of the developed models in assisting students with learning strategies required in abstract, highly visual-dependent topics, and with addressing and solving chemistry problems with visual demands. The research includes analysis of focus groups and implementation data to identify an emergent framework for interventions, and monitoring via a validated, comprehensive visualization tool if visual-perceptual skills change during one semester of instruction using the proposed model sets. Data are also being extended to study gender differences with respect to visualization skills found in other disciplines. An independent project advisor and evaluator is providing feedback on the assessment tools and strategies, and is providing an independent review of the methodology and analysis approaches, so as to strengthen the work of the project.
The intended outcomes of the project are to provide tools, strategies, and evidence of what works and how to use it so that students' visualization skills may be improved through formal instruction. In the longer term, the project intends to advance knowledge so that the practice of teaching chemistry is more effective, deliberate, and knowledgeable in promoting visualization in chemistry classrooms. The target audience of the project includes chemistry faculty and undergraduate students, as well as researchers and developers. Beyond the localized impact and adoption by faculty at other institutions, this project is designed to influence research on several fronts, including a) proposing effective interventions that promote visualization skills, b) supporting correlation data between visualization skills and success in chemistry courses, c) showing concurrent validity of a chemistry specific visualization tool, and d) shedding light on conflicting data relating gender differences in visualization skills. Findings from the research and instruments that are developed are being presented in formats and venues so that they can be used to examine how to design materials, tools, and/or interventions to transfer knowledge into different visual representations. The project is also producing educational tools (five model sets), activities (instructional materials with suggestions on how to effectively use them), and documentation to support viable ways to deliberately promote visualization skills in chemistry classrooms. These tools will allow for the exploration and separation of multiple spatial operations (besides rotation and reflection) in advanced undergraduate courses.
This project studied ways to effectively promote visualization skills in the context of highly abstract chemistry topics as these skills have been correlated to problem solving abilities and success in STEM courses. Physical, 3-D models were designed, developed, and used by students to solve visually demanding operations involved in study areas such as symmetry, group theory, and structural interactions. Extensive qualitative data from focus groups using these physical models generated a framework for deconstructing complex visual concepts in order to teach students how to solve visual tasks independently and how to verbalize their mental models. Curricular materials were also developed and used in a semester-long intervention (10-weeks) where students worked on visually demanding problems for 15 minutes each week. The curricular materials developed consisted on content-rich, visually demanding activities that were scaffold both in content and visual demands. Qualitative data collected each week showed that by the end of the intervention students were able to document which parts of the images were useful for interpreting the visual representations and identify valid patterns and rules within the images expressing understanding of information. A successful strategy communication was identified when students documented personal strategies that allowed them to complete the activities. Ultimately, students were able to extend visual skills to advanced applications they had not previously studied. In addition, quantitative data from visualization instruments were collected in order to investigate if the robust changes observed qualitatively would show significant changes using validated tools. Analysis of the scores from a tool that specifically measures mental rotation skills showed significant improvement for all groups. This is significant as such skills were not directly addressed during the intervention. Deconstruction was used as a method to provide structure to students studying complex visual problems and proved to be a valuable method for instruction and assessment of visual information. Consistent instructional modeling on the use of deconstruction was deemed imperative in promoting visual skills. Deliberate focus on verbalization of visual comprehension provided insight into how students regarded specific images, their creative interpretations, and their understanding of the patterns encountered. In addition, it also helped more students communicate higher levels of analytical deconstruction as the intervention progressed. This study shows that deliberate, consistent, and targeted instruction is necessary to improve visualization skills in students and that deconstruction is a tangible way to achieve such goal.
