Learning the Visualisation of Rotations in Diagrams of Three Dimensional Structures

Abstract

The investigation evaluates the effectiveness of six instructional programmes with Bahraini secondary students, with an aim to alleviate the problems encountered by them in visualising rotation in molecular diagrams. Six types of remedial programmes were recorded on video tapes and tested on students who showed difficulty in visualising rotation from molecular diagrams. Each programme consisted of models rotating with one of three different speeds, and either with, or without, shadow prompts. All programmes brought about a significant degree of learning. However, there were no significant differences in improvement of understanding which were dependent upon either the speed of rotation of the molecular models, or the method used in remediation, i.e. shadow or no shadow programmes.