Author(s):
Interactive Organic Reaction Animations (iORA) is a teaching tool for organic chemistry students. Development and assessment of iORA is a combined effort by faculty and students at Brigham Young University and Temple University. This new tool is an application that can used on Smartphones. There is a beta version for phones with the Android operating system. The tool has been available online for 2 years and we are currently in the 4th semester of assessing iORA. It is known that there is a link between understanding organic chemistry and visualizing objects in 3D. We are attempting to measure that connection and hoping that the iORA software will ameliorate the barrier that some have for 3D visualization. There is potential for helping students understand organic chemistry by providing a teaching tool with the attributes of iORA. We are addressing whether students who deal with challenges in 3D visualization, as shown by the Purdue Spatial Visualization Test – Rotation, are able to surmount those challenges after using the iORA software, as shown by descriptive quiz question responses. Another aspect of the project is to add readable, meaningful, short descriptions to the animations. The ultimate purpose of the iORA animations is to engage organic chemistry students with the learning process.
