When students studying first-year chemistry at Massey University were surveyed on their opinions of the use of computer-based instruction in the course, a small proportion of the 400 students (about 10%) were very enthusiastic, but the majority were either ambivalent or negative. This preliminary survey followed a period of rapid escalation of the use of computers in the course, when students were being asked to use molecular modeling programs and simulated experiments as well as computer-based tutorials.Research into the use of computer-based learning in chemistry has shown statistically significant gains in student performance and attitude towards chemistry (1-5); however the gains are often modest. Qualitative studies can often give insights into the reasons underlying the results of quantitative research, but there are few examples in the literature for the physical sciences (6-8). This paper reports a preliminary qualitative study of the use of computers in first-year chemistry. The project employed stimulated recall interviewing (9) to explore the experiences of groups of students using four pieces of software in different topics within the chemistry course. This technique gives a wealth of data about the student's performance on the task and provides evidence to support the assertions of researchers in instructional design that software must flexibly match the needs of diverse student groups.
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