NMR Spectra through the Eyes of a Student: Eye Tracking Applied to NMR Items

Abstract

Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) plays a key role in introductory organic chemistry, spanning theory, concepts, and experimentation. Therefore, it is imperative that the instruction methods for NMR are both efficient and effective. By utilizing eye tracking equipment, the researchers were able to monitor how second-semester organic chemistry students solved NMR items. Graduate and advanced undergraduate students were used as a comparison group. The students in the course were characterized as novices, while the comparison group served as "experts" in statistical comparisons of problemsolving strategies. This study examines aspects of proton NMR spectra that each group considered while matching organic structure with a provided spectrum. Significant differences between the expert and novice groups as well as within the novice group were observed. The participants' search patterns (i.e., gaze frequency and gaze order) were interpreted in terms of a problem-solving approach. These results can provide subtle information about the learner's attention and cognition.

Studying student behavior and chemistry skill using browser-based tools and eye-tracking hardware

“…8 Eye-tracking studies about molecular representations are in a pilot stage; whether students behave like experts or novices in matching appropriate structures to proton NMR spectral data can be determine from related studies. 12,13 Experts follow very different gaze pathways than their novice counterparts.…”

“…There is a clear difference between undergraduate students in the second semester organic course and those with considerably more experience (i.e., advanced undergraduates and graduate students conducting research). 13 The study provided both sets of users with a very short time to match the structure and spectral data (i.e., 1 minute), a variable that would favor the more experienced group and one that was not examined in the study. For example, do the novices just need more time?…”

“Seeing” Data Like an Expert: An Eye-Tracking Study Using Graphical Data Representations

“…Most prior work approached the issue as a dichotomy contrasting differences between end members rather than along a continuum of expertise (e.g., Bowen et al. , 1999; Topczewski et al. , 2016).…”

“…Our goal is not to determine what skills experts possess and novices lack, but to see what differences may exist as a function of scientific training that can be used to inform the development of graph literacy. Based on prior data-visualization literature (e.g., Atkins, 2016; Angra and Gardner, 2016; Stofer, 2016; Topczewski et al. , 2016), it is anticipated that variation will exist between experts and novices in how they direct their attention during task completion when seeking meaningful information and that this knowledge might provide insight to help guide students in transitioning from novice to expert-like performance or “learning how to see” like experts (NRC, 2000, p. 36)…”

“…More recently, to help inform instructional practices, ET techniques have been used to identify and analyze differences in how individuals with little knowledge and “experts” interact with discipline-based or specialized graph data. As an example, Topczewski et al. (2016) compared the eye movements of introductory organic chemistry students with those of graduate and advanced undergraduate students when interpreting nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra—a common technique within the field.…”