TY - JOUR
T1 - “It is not just the shape, there is more”
T2 - students’ learning of enzyme-substrate interactions with immersive Virtual Reality
AU - Matovu, Henry
AU - Won, Mihye
AU - Tasker, Roy
AU - Mocerino, Mauro
AU - Treagust, David Franklin
AU - Ungu, Dewi Ayu Kencana
AU - Tsai, Chin Chung
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Royal Society of Chemistry. All rights reserved.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Immersive Virtual Reality (iVR) can help students visualise and explore complex chemical concepts, such as protein enzyme structures and interactions. We designed a set of collaborative iVR-based learning tasks on the interaction between a protein enzyme and its substrate. We investigated how 18 pairs (36 students) in undergraduate chemistry courses changed their understanding of enzyme-substrate interactions through iVR learning tasks. Videos of pre- and post-interviews and student-generated diagrams were analysed. Before iVR, students had abstract models of the structure of a protein enzyme or its interaction with a substrate molecule. Over 90 per cent of the students (33/36) explained enzyme-substrate interactions using simplistic lock-and-key diagrams, exclusively focusing on the shape. Although many students employed key scientific terms like activation energy in their explanations, they were unsure how enzymes lowered activation energy or how catalytic reactions occurred. After iVR, all students discussed the inadequacy of 2D diagrams for representing complex enzyme-substrate interactions. About 90 per cent of students (32/36) used concrete ideas such as electron density and orientation of reactants in the active site to explain the probability of successful interactions between the enzyme and its substrate. Our findings provide evidence of how interactive iVR learning tasks can help students explore complex molecular structures, integrate ideas, and build a concrete understanding of challenging science concepts.
AB - Immersive Virtual Reality (iVR) can help students visualise and explore complex chemical concepts, such as protein enzyme structures and interactions. We designed a set of collaborative iVR-based learning tasks on the interaction between a protein enzyme and its substrate. We investigated how 18 pairs (36 students) in undergraduate chemistry courses changed their understanding of enzyme-substrate interactions through iVR learning tasks. Videos of pre- and post-interviews and student-generated diagrams were analysed. Before iVR, students had abstract models of the structure of a protein enzyme or its interaction with a substrate molecule. Over 90 per cent of the students (33/36) explained enzyme-substrate interactions using simplistic lock-and-key diagrams, exclusively focusing on the shape. Although many students employed key scientific terms like activation energy in their explanations, they were unsure how enzymes lowered activation energy or how catalytic reactions occurred. After iVR, all students discussed the inadequacy of 2D diagrams for representing complex enzyme-substrate interactions. About 90 per cent of students (32/36) used concrete ideas such as electron density and orientation of reactants in the active site to explain the probability of successful interactions between the enzyme and its substrate. Our findings provide evidence of how interactive iVR learning tasks can help students explore complex molecular structures, integrate ideas, and build a concrete understanding of challenging science concepts.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85208922526&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1039/d4rp00210e
DO - 10.1039/d4rp00210e
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85208922526
SN - 1756-1108
VL - 26
SP - 259
EP - 270
JO - Chemistry Education Research and Practice
JF - Chemistry Education Research and Practice
IS - 1
ER -