Haptic Influences on Reasoning and Learning in Protein Education

• An emerging viewpoint of cognition suggests that the body has a central role in shaping the mind and that cognitive processes are deeply rooted in the body´s interaction with the world that, “embodied cognition or learning”. If so, the documented difficulties for learners to grasp and to engage in molecular sciences might, at least in part, explained by the lack of direct experience of the micro world. The term haptics encompasses the tactual sensation and the human interaction with the external environment through touch. When integrated as part of a computer-based virtual environment, haptics refers to the artificial tactual sensation used to simulate the experience of actually touching or feeling a real object that occur in response to user movements.  The present work aims to evaluate the gains of a haptic element from a learning perspective, when haptics is added to an educational virtual reality environment for students learning the concepts of molecular interactions in proteins. A combined qualitative and quantitative approach is taken, using data from tests and interviews (with a subset of the subjects).  The study is an attempt to fill some of the gaps in the research about possible benefits from using force feedback technology, focusing specifically on the learning gains from a study of a virtual protein model. The computer model did not help the students to solve their tasks faster, but it appears to help them to gain a deeper understanding of the docking process, partly by challenging their preconceptions. Further, we propose that the force feedback might constitute a critical feature for understanding the involvement of the dynamics and forces involved in the process.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Didaktik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Didactics (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Biokemi och molekylärbiologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Data- och informationsvetenskap -- Medieteknik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Computer and Information Sciences -- Media and Communication Technology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Visualization

Science education

Haptics

Molecular life science

TECHNOLOGY

TEKNIKVETENSKAP

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

kon (subject category)