Assessing Augmented Reality in Helping Undergraduate Students to Integrate 2D and 3D Representations of Stereochemistry

Organic chemistry students exhibit great difficulty grasping stereochemistry and chemical bond hybridization concepts. The 2D representations of molecules presented to them in lectures and exams serve as tools for communication between professional chemists. However, these students’ ability to link the molecular formulas, 2D pictures, geometric structures, and molecular characteristics has repeatedly been found challenging. 2D depictions, physical model sets, and 3D computer models are currently used in classrooms and courses in an attempt to tackle the problem of tying the 2D representations to the 3D stereochemistry properties but each tool falls short in one aspect or another. In the present study, we examine how an augmented reality (AR) mobile app combining 2D and 3D representations may be used to support understanding of these concepts.