As part of COVID-19 preparedness, a student-developed, Android-based app was used as a pre-laboratory learning aid for a molecular modeling laboratory in a first-year general chemistry course. A worksheet activity with trigger codes and questions related to spatial features of transition metal complexes was designed. Using the Transition Metal…

Augmented reality (AR) is a means of superimposing artificial 3D objects over the real world via a mobile device. An AR standard file format has been recently implemented on mobile devices that current students commonly own. Here we describe three relatively nontechnical methods to produce 3D AR objects for chemistry courses and demonstrate their…

Visualization can be a motivating way to teach students about molecules. Nowadays, the available experimental data and accurate computational results allow students to build realistic and accurate molecular models. These models include the representation of complex systems such as proteins, membranes, or nanotubes. However, the visualization of…

The calcium hydroxide solubility product constant ("K"[subscript sp]) lab is a familiar lab experiment outlined in the "Advanced Chemistry with Vernier" handbook. In an on-campus laboratory setting, students are afforded the opportunity to examine techniques, such as titration of a saturated base solution (Ca­(OH)[subscript 2])…

Molecular symmetry and orbitals are two important chemical concepts which can be difficult for students to visualize in three dimensions; as such, instructors have traditionally adopted a variety of approaches to teach them including the use of physical models and digital renderings/resources. This paper describes a new mobile device application…

A new program, ECEP2D, for simulating the one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) patterns of the gel electrophoresis of a protein after it has been digested by one or more enzymes is introduced. With ECEP2D, students can gain deeper insights into gel electrophoresis by performing hands-on simulations. For example, students can visualize how…

An augmented reality (AR) application and an activity worksheet have been developed to support students in visualizing the concepts involved when solving [superscript 1]H NMR problems. This instructional resource was designed to encourage conceptual problem-solving and prevent memorization by eliminating the use of chemical shift tables. It uses…

Facile visualization of biomolecules is an essential component of the undergraduate biochemistry curriculum. In the past, a number of tools have been used to display biomolecules. More recently, the advent of greater accessibility to virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) programs has created a new mechanism to visualize biomolecules.…

Three-dimensional visualization of molecular simulations in virtual reality (VR) is an emerging teaching tool in chemical education. This work describes a VR application which can generate a 3D molecular dynamics (MD) simulation from arbitrary molecular structures and renders that MD simulation trajectory on a VR headset in real-time. This system…

We present an accessible implementation of augmented reality projections for the depiction of complex structures and motifs, including atomic orbitals and elemental allotropes. The utilization of a free, cross-platform-compatible, online database of these structures provides the access route for closer examination, either via augmented reality or…

Visualization of three-dimensional (3D) elements has always played a huge role in chemistry education. At the same time, it is a challenge to teach with most representations being shown in two-dimensional (2D) media. With the recent rise of extended reality (XR) that includes virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) technology in higher education,…

An application for visualizing the aggregation of structureless atoms is presented. The application allows us to demonstrate on a qualitative basis, as well as by quantitatively monitoring the aggregate surface/volume ratio, that the enhanced reactivity of nanoparticles can be connected with their large specific surface. It is suggested that,…

We present a simple procedure to make an augmented reality app to visualize any chemical 3D model. The molecular structure may be based on crystallographic data or from computational modeling. This guide is made in such a way that no programming skills are needed, and the procedure uses free software and provides a way to visualize 3D structures…

Students undertaking courses in the field of chemistry need to integrate their spatial skills and conceptual knowledge. However, model perception along with the understanding of spatial processes and spatial structures of molecules has been a cause of difficulty for students as conventional teaching methods cannot fully aid student comprehension.…

Species TOPOS is a free software package for generating three-dimensional (3-D) topographic surfaces ("topos") for acid-base equilibrium studies. This upgrade adds 3-D species distribution topos to earlier surfaces that showed pH and buffer capacity behavior during titration and dilution procedures. It constructs topos by plotting…