Inquiry-Based Activities and Games That Engage Students in Learning Atomic Orbitals

Abstract

Atomic orbitals represent an essential construct used to develop chemical bonding models, upon which other more advanced chemistry topics are built. In this article, we share a series of active-learning activities and a gamified approach to develop students' representational competence about atomic orbitals and to engage students in learning the properties of atomic orbitals. These properties are essential for understanding an array of fundamental concepts such as penetration and shielding, relationships such as periodic trends, and models used to describe chemical bonding. The activities employ an inquiry-based approach to engage students in exploring the relationship between atomic orbitals' spatial properties and quantum numbers. The activities guide students to collect data to verify periodic trends and construct electronic configurations. The activities utilize Orbital Explorer Web site for visualization, comparison, and analysis of atomic orbitals. The Orbital Explorer Web site is described in a related Technology Report. The activities and the game are suitable to be conducted in both in-person and remote-teaching settings.

Online Orbital Explorer and BingOrbital Game for Inquiry-Based Activities

“…BingOrbital is an original chemistry educational gamification design shared by this contribution. The game aims to practice the recognition of atomic orbitals by RDF and isosurface and has been played in the class following an IBL activity about atomic orbitals (Activity 1 in another Activity paper of this journal) as a form of retrieval practice (drawing information from memory rather than relying on existing notes or a textbook). , The game is also intended to promote engagement and bring fun to the classroom. This game is constructed in a format resembling American version of Bingo, hence the portmanteau “BingOrbital”.…”

“…The Orbital Explorer Web site has been integrated with inquiry-based learning (IBL) activities and has been implemented in the Honors General Chemistry I course at Rutgers University since the Fall 2019 academic term. The IBL activities are described in another publication of this journal and contain two sets of activities: Activity 1 and Activity 2, which are implemented in sequence . Activity 1 focuses on atomic orbital quantum numbers, nodal surfaces, sizes, and energies .…”

“…The Web site has undergone iterative updates since 2019, based on users’ feedback, and the current version is a product of the team’s effort in meeting instructors’ and students’ needs. The usage of the Web site is not limited to the published activities but also enables one to create new learning activities aimed to enhance students’ understanding of atomic orbitals and related concepts.…”

“…The orbital energy data provided by Orbital Explorer enable students to address misconceptions and enhance understanding through inquiry-based activities. Activity 2 described in another paper 51 demonstrates an example activity utilizing the numerical output of energies to overcome learning difficulties associated with writing electron configurations for transition-metal cations. In the activity, students are guided to collect orbital energies for transition-metal atoms (e.g., iron [Ar]3d 6 4s 2 ), rank the orbitals according to their energies (Figure 4D), and then apply the principle of ionizing electrons with higher energy first to get the electron configuration of the cation (e.g., Fe 2+ , [Ar]3d 6 ).…”

A Mixed-Method Approach to Investigate the Effect of Flipped Inquiry-Based Learning on Chemistry Students Learning

“…As a result, IBL has received much attention regarding its effectiveness on students learning outcomes. Many studies have found that IBL enable students to explore, communicate and discover knowledge and gain a deeper understanding of the subject matter (de Dieu Kwitonda et al, 2021;Hofer et al, 2018;Li et al, 2022), increases academic performance (Azizoglu et al, 2022;Bodner & Elmas, 2020;Singh, 2020) and enhance the development of critical thinking and problem-solving skills (Arsal, 2017;Duran & Dokme, 2016;Herawati et al, 2020).…”