Computer Science – Learning
Scientific paper
Dec 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006aas...20914104t&link_type=abstract
2007 AAS/AAPT Joint Meeting, American Astronomical Society Meeting 209, #141.04; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society,
Computer Science
Learning
Scientific paper
The Molecular Workbench (MW) is a sophisticated system for developing and delivering interactive learning activities to teach basic concepts that govern atomic and nanoscale phenomena. The system is based on a molecular dynamics model that calculates the motion of atoms, molecules, and other objects in real time as a result of the applicable forces, including Lennard-Jones potentials, electrostatic potentials, elastic bonds, and external fields. Light-atom interactions are modeled with photons of selectable energy that interact with the excited states of atoms.
The built-in authoring functions can be used to create or modify learning activities. The ease of creating MW materials has led to over 200 activities contributed by staff and collaborators. Many are housed in a database with fields that include an overview, learning objectives, a description of the central concepts addressed, textbook references, and extensions.
MW has been used extensively in classrooms in grades 7-14. In several settings student learning gains have been measured using a pre-posttest design. Research results will be reported that show
Overall increases in understanding of atomic scale phenomena at high school and community college levels.
The ability to transfer understanding of atomic-scale phenomena to new situations and to reason about macroscopic phenomena on the basis of atomic-scale interactions.
Better understanding of difficult questions that required immersive visualization and prediction
MW is written in Java, so it runs under all common operating systems, including Mac OSX, Windows, and Linux. It is open source, so it can be shared and copied by any user.
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