Chemistry Education: A Tangible Interaction Approach

This system paper reports on some of the advantages tangible interaction can bring to chemistry education. The paper describes how we realized a Tangible User Interface (TUI) called Augmented Chemistry (AC), gives details on basic and specialized interactive tools working in this system, and outlines the educational context. Using the basic tools, elements can be chosen from a booklet menu and composed into threedimensional (3D) molecular models. The system with its tools shows a way to design for seamless integration of the physical and digital realms. Multiple tools can be used concurrently, thereby calling for users’ two-handed skills. To teach an aspect of molecular chemistry − the octet rule − we extended the system into an educational workbench drawing on haptic and aural augmentation. The system design required contributions from optics, mathematics, molecular chemistry, software engineering, and 3D programming. Future challenges of this project lie in further system development and educational usability.