Education Commons^™

General Chemistry Students’ Cognitive Engagement During Intermolecular Interactions Activity Involving Sodium Ions, Chloride Ions And Water, Kaylee Barbee, Cassidy Terrell, Adriane Randolph, Kimberly Linenberger Cortes

Symposium of Student Scholars

In chemistry, three-dimensional models are used to help students understand advanced topics. Understanding what causes an increase in cognitive load is critical because a greater cognitive load is often related to three-dimensional models. To understand cognitive load in relation to models, students were given both a virtual simulation to complete and three-dimensional models to use. Question four of the activity was further analyzed and broken down into smaller sections based on the molecules involved. With the three-dimensional modeling kits, the students were given water molecules, sodium ions, and chloride ions. The students were asked to figure out if certain molecules …