Feeling like an atom

What is it about?

Learners studying the topic of chemical bonding via normally-used static and dynamic representations often fail to understand the simultaneous attraction and repulsion forces acting between the atoms. We developed a computer-based Embodied Learning Interactive environment, named ELI-Chem, to provide haptics-based bodily experiences of the motion and forces that an atom undergoes as it approaches and moves away from another atom in a chemical bond.

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Why is it important?

The chemical bond is the most fundamental entity in chemistry, and forms the basis for understanding materials in the world. However, most learning environments do not support developing a scientific model of bonding, and as a result, many misunderstandings abound - both among students, but also among teachers and textbooks. This misunderstanding prevents students from understanding higher-level concepts such as bond strength. With the ELI-Chem environment, we support students’ direct experiences of movement and forces in simulated chemical bonds using a haptic device. Feeling the attractive and repulsive forces operating simultaneously between the two atoms made the concept of chemical bonding more understandable and cogent, in particular the processes of bond breaking and formation.

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