What do atoms feel?: understanding forces and energy in chemical bonding through the ELI-Chem environment

Abstract

We developed and explored four degrees of bodily engagement - video, mouse, joystick and haptic - to support chemistry students in grasping the attraction-repulsion forces and energy changes involved in chemical bonding. These topics are difficult to grasp as there are no analogues from everyday life for opposing forces happening simultaneously. Our theoretical framework is based on embodied learning theory by relating conceptual learning to bodily experiences. The study uses quantitative methods with 48 high-school students in a pretest-intervention-posttest design. Findings showed an increase in accuracy and a decrease in response time in all conditions. Only the haptic condition showed a significantly larger increase in accuracy, however, not a corresponding decrease in response-time compared to other conditions. This study highlights the states in which embodied learning uniquely contributes to understanding: absence of prior embodied experience, learning about a nonvisual concept related to forces, and a high congruence with the concept learned.