Yj. Dori et N. Barnea, A COMPUTER-AIDED-INSTRUCTION MODULE ON POLYMERS, Journal of chemical information and computer sciences, 33(3), 1993, pp. 325-331
Polymers is a subject studied as an elective unit by senior high schoo
l students in Israel who major in chemistry. Motivated by lack of adeq
uate means to model dynamic processes and 3D structure of polymers, th
e hazard and cost of experiments with polymers, and the need for diffe
rent complexity levels, we have developed a computer-aided instruction
(CAI) module on polymers. The module consists of three topics: organi
c chemistry, polymerization, and structure and characteristics. Three
'information organizers'', concept map, database, and index, enable ea
sy navigation and access to information. Each topic ends with a set of
problems, for which immediate responses are provided. The use of grap
hics and animation enables a vivid display of molecular structure and
polymerization processes. The module has been assessed by teachers usi
ng two tools, a questionnaire and the Card Traversal Graph, and was fo
und to respond to needs that originally motivated us to develop the so
ftware.