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Sebastian Habig is a chemistry education researcher at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany. In his research, he is interested in questions regarding the use of ICT in chemistry education and how digital media can be designed and implemented to support students' chemistry learning.

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This paper presents a study about augmented-reality-based chemistry learning in a university lecture. Organic chemistry is often perceived as particularly difficult by students because spatial information must be processed in order to understand subject specific concepts and key ideas. To understand typical chemistry-related representations in books or literature, sophisticated mental rotation- and other spatial abilities are needed. Providing an augmented reality (AR) based learning support in the learning setting together with text and pictures is consistent with the idea of multiple external representations and the cognitive theory of multimedia learning. Using multiple external representations has proven to be beneficial for learning success, because different types of representations are processed separately in working memory. Nevertheless, the integration of a new learning medium involves the risk to hinder learning, in case of being not suitable for the learning topic or learning purpose. Therefore, this study investigates how the AR-use affects students’ cognitive load during learning in three different topics of organic chemistry. For this purpose also the usability of AR learning support is considered and the possible reduction of the influence of the mental rotation on learning success will be investigated.

Preparatory or bridging courses are widespread and have a long tradition at universities. They are designed to increase students’ academic success – in particular of students with low prior knowledge – and to reduce dropout rates. However, critics of these short and compact bridging courses complain that preparatory courses are not able to fill in content gaps sufficiently in a few weeks. Despite the high prevalence of university bridging courses, little is currently known about the sustainable learning efficacy of these courses. The aim of this study was to examine the short- and long-term effects of a traditional chemistry bridging course on students’ success in the end of the semester examination of first-year chemistry students. For this purpose, students’ learning outcomes were analyzed at the end of the two-week bridging course of students with different prior knowledge. Furthermore, it was investigated in an intervention-reference-group design whether students’ exam results at the end of the first semester differ from participants of the bridging course and students who did not participate in the course. The results of the study reveal that students with low prior knowledge manage to close their content gaps in just a few weeks and to adjust differences in prior knowledge before starting their studies. At the end of the first semester, bridging course participants achieve significantly better exam results than their fellow students who did not enroll in the bridging course. However, mainly students with high prior knowledge seem to benefit from participating in the longer term. In the case of students with low prior knowledge, participation do not lead to better exam results compared to students without participation. Findings of the study can provide a basis for university teachers as well as university development experts to establish university bridging courses as well as to optimize existing offers.