LeMo

Studying Chemical Molecular Structures through Gaming

Filipe Silva

, Tiago Alves

, José Braz

and Susana Piçarra

1,2

Escola Superior de Tecnologia de Setúbal, Instituto Politécnico de Setúbal

Campus do IPS, Estefanilha, 2910-761 Setúbal, Portugal

Centro de Química-Física Molecular and Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, IST/UTL

1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal

Keywords: e-Learning, Web Games, Learning through Gaming, Virtual Chemistry Lab, Lewis Structures, Molecular

Geometries, Polarity, Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion, VSEPR.

Abstract: The present work’s main contribution is the description of a first experiment to create a virtual chemistry lab

to be used at university level based on games instead of the traditional chemistry virtual labs based on

experiments. The paper starts with the motivation to use games as a teaching-learning process and with the

reason for choosing Lewis formulas and VSEPR theory to make a first experiment. Previous works, with

emphasis on web solutions for Chemistry and the role of emotions in the learning process are then

presented. The architecture of LeMo, the developed game, is described together with a detailed explanation

of its operation. The paper ends with a summary of the experiment’s results, which indicate that gaming

may be a good strategy for motivating students to study Chemistry.

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Motivation and Objectives

In order to improve students’ evaluation results, the

Chemistry Scientific Area within the Systems and

Informatics Department was interested in developing

a virtual tool that could allow students to practice

different contents. During the requirements analysis

and specification step of the development process,

the creation of a Chemistry Virtual Lab, that

students could use autonomously, was proposed.

After a brief study of the available e-learning

materials (Rekkedal et al., 2003); (Bottentuit et al.,

2006); (Espinilla et al.., 2010); (Allen et al., 2008,

2010) and of previous experiences within the

Chemistry Scientific Area it became clear that

several issues needed to be addressed prior to the

development of any serious experiment. To us the

most important issues were:

1. Which objectives should be considered for such

a platform: to improve the evaluation results? To

facilitate the learning and practice processes? To

give students an environment where they would

practice for longer periods?

2. Depending on the specified goals, a strategy had

to be defined. Three main options were identified:

cloning existing virtual labs, simply giving the links

to the best ones already present in cyberspace or

developing a new one.

The creation of an engaging environment was

established as the main objective. Considering that

the two first strategies had already been

implemented on the EST Setubal e-learning

platform

, and prior to engage in the development of

a full environment, we decided to test the strategy of

learning through gaming.

Taking the previous statement in consideration

we may say that the aim of the present application is

to provide a new method for practicing the writing

of Lewis formulas and applying VSEPR theory,

pointing students’ mistakes in real time and in a

pleasant way, in order to motivate students not to

give up when studying these subjects.

Note that only on-line and completely free of

charges solutions were considered during this work,

in order to minimize costs both for students and

institutions.

http://moodle.ests.ips.pt/ (accessed 2011/Dec/08) Please notice

that all links and Google queries quoted in the present work

where last accessed and reviewed on this same date.

506

Silva F., Alves T., Braz J. and Piçarra S..

LeMo - Studying Chemical Molecular Structures through Gaming.

DOI: 10.5220/0003934005060516

In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (SGoCSL-2012), pages 506-516

ISBN: 978-989-8565-07-5

 2012 SCITEPRESS (Science and Technology Publications, Lda.)

1.1.1 Why Lewis Formulas and VSEPR

Theory

Molecular Structure is a compulsory chapter in any

introductory course of Chemistry. The most

elementary way to represent a molecule is using its

Lewis formula, which shows all chemical bounds

between atoms. However, and by itself, a Lewis

formula doesn’t give any information about the

geometry of the molecule, which determines several

properties of the corresponding material (boiling

point, viscosity, etc.). The easiest way to determine a

molecular geometry from a Lewis formula is by

applying the Valence Shell Electron Pair Repulsion

theory, VSEPR – a model used to predict the shape

of individual molecules based upon the extent of

electron-pair electrostatic repulsion. Despite the

simplicity of these two subjects, students frequently

find them boring, especially if their graduation areas

are not in Chemistry.

Usually, students study these subjects by solving

exercises on paper and comparing the obtained

structures and geometries with the ones reported on

the solutions section. This method is often

frustrating as one single mistake is enough to lead to

a completely wrong structure and/or geometry. As it

is not easy for a student to identify the mistake by

himself, he usually gives up.

The Chemistry Group first attempt to overcome

this problem was the implementation of an

interactive multi-choice questionnaire at the moodle

based EST Setúbal e-learning platform

. As the

available wrong answers were based on the students

most frequent mistakes, a tip popped out whenever a

wrong answer was given, helping the student to find

the right option.

Implemented at the Oxford Universal Virtual

Chemistry Lab (Table 1) there is an application for

attributing geometries to molecules (from a database

of 20 molecules). Whenever the answer is right, the

molecule 3D representation appears, helping the

student to visualize its molecular structure.

The existence of these two applications also

contributed for choosing Lewis formulas and

VSEPR theory as contents for the present game.

1.1.2 Why Gaming?

From the last two decades of the past century on,

brain sciences have developed deep studies on the

role of emotions in conscience (Damásio, 1994).

These studies changed the understanding of the

relations between perceptions, emotions and the

learning processes (Damásio, 1999).

During the Middle Ages, when no registration of

land properties existed, it was a common practice to

choose a boy to witness land transactions. At the

moment of the transaction and in the presence of the

full audience, the boy was strongly hit in the face. It

was empirically understood that the boy would

remember that day for all his life and would identify

the landlord, in case of conflict.

Nowadays this practice is no longer used.

Nevertheless it is still well accepted that living a

strong emotion contributes to a better memorizing

process. Indeed, (Damásio, 2010) has recently

proposed a brain perception and memorization

model based on the relation between perception,

images and emotions. For what this paper is

concerned, do consider the concept of “Images” as

in (Damásio, 2010), pg 36: “The brain maps the

surrounding world [including the whole human

body], as well as its own functioning. These maps

are experienced as images in our mind. So the term

“images” refers not only to visual images but also to

images that came from any other sense, like

audition, visceral or tactile as a few examples”.

It is also worth mentioning recent works in

Affective Computing, pioneered by (Picard, 1995).

According to (Shen et al., 2009), “the influence of

emotions on learning is still under-emphasized.

Recently, a growing body of literature [in Affective

Computing] has begun to espouse the central role of

emotion to any learning endeavor and outcomes,

especially in online learning”.

Although Affective Computing studies are still in

progress, it is possible to assume that gaming, that

raises emotional states, should improve students’

learning capabilities.

2 PREVIOUS WORKS

2.1 First Attempts

Considering the discussion and definition of e-

learning presented by (Tavangarian et al, 2004) we

may consider that the use of e-learning in Chemistry

began almost half a century ago. Indeed (Yoshimura,

2006) refers its introduction in Japan in the 1980’s.

In USA it is consensual that PLATO

(Programmed

Logic for Automated Teaching Operations),

developed in the 1960’s, was pioneer in computer

assisted education. The earliest references to its use

on Chemistry can be found in (Smith, 1970) and

(Shacham et al., 1981). In Europe, and according

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLATO_(computer_system)

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with (Hebenstreit, 1980), research in computer

assisted learning started in the early 1960’s in

several French Universities. Nevertheless, the

earliest references to its consistent use in Chemistry

are found in the UK, associated to the project

Computers in Teaching Initiative (Gagan, 2008), in

1989.

The number of e-learning products (or claimed

as such by its developers) has grown exponentially

since then (Casher et al., 1998), as illustrated also in

(Table 1). Note that the numbers in (Table 1) also

include items such as papers, reports, videos,

images, and other applications. The huge number of

web pages dedicated to Chemistry is an indication of

the relevance of information technologies in the

Chemistry learning process and corroborate the

statement that “educational technology is now

widespread in Chemistry teaching” (Gagan, 2008);

(Wodward, 2008). In fact, (Gagan, 2008) is a review

on the chemistry learning experience in the UK, so

its generalization to Europe or to the world should

be made with great caution. Nevertheless, if before

the Bologna Process

University Curricula across

Europe were very different, today the situation is

much more uniform. Moreover, we can see that their

conclusions are in line with the results shown in

Table 1.

Table 1: Quantity of results returned from a few Google

queries.

Google Query # Results

“e-learning in chemistry” 22 200

"Chemistry Virtual Lab" 22 200

"Chemistry Games" 116 000

+chemistry +e-learning 9 960 000

+Chemistry +"Virtual Lab" 1 110 000

+Chemistry +Game 70 000

2.2 Contemporary Web Solutions

After the global dissemination of web access, it is a

common practice to use standard platforms as a

support for e-leaning activities

. According to

(Kahiigi et al., 2008) these platforms may be

described as:

1. Learning Management Systems (LMS): a whole

range of information systems and processes that con-

tribute directly or indirectly for learning and for the

management of that learning. They are primarily

http://www.bologna-bergen2005.no/

According with http://moodle.org/sites/ there are 72105 active

sites registered in 223 countries.

developed to provide online learning services for

students, teachers, and administrators.

2. Content Management Systems (CMS):

developed to facilitate the collaborative creation of

contents, organisation, control, and to manage the

publication of documents in a centralized

environment.

3. Learning Content Management Systems

(LCMS): web-based systems that combine

management and administrative functionalities of

LMS and CMS for author approval, publishing, and

management of learning contents.

Being a recent classification that is used by a large

number of different research & development areas

and users, the concepts, acronyms and definitions

proposed by these authors should not be seen as a

final taxonomy. Just to give a practical example of

such differences, (Kahiigi et al., 2008) states that

moodle is an example of a CMS (and CMS stands

for Content MS) while moodle.org defines itself as

“a Course Management System (CMS), also known

as a Learning Management System (LMS) or a

Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)”.

2.2.1 Web Solutions for Chemistry

The number of web pages dedicated to Chemistry is

huge and includes many different applications

(Georgious et al., 2007), such as repositories of

theoretic materials, quizzes and questionnaires,

detailed descriptions of experiments, mechanisms of

chemical reactions, periodic tables, virtual

laboratories (Table 2), or games repositories (Table

3).

2.2.2 Virtual Laboratories

Considering the meaning of these two words:

1. Laboratory: a facility that provides controlled

conditions in which scientific research, experiments,

and measurement may be performed

2. Virtual: this term has been defined in philosophy

as "that which is not real" but may display the salient

qualities of reality. The use of the word virtual for

computer simulation of reality is not recent. The

Online Etymology Dictionary reports that the sense

of "not physically existing but made to appear by

software" appears as early as 1959

the concept of “Virtual Laboratory” should simply

qualify facilities that are not real but may display the

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laboratory

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual

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salient qualities of the reality, to provide controlled

conditions in which scientific research, experiments,

and measurements may be performed.

However, as shown from the few examples

described in Table 2 and as already reported by

(Georgious et al., 2007), only a few “Virtual

Laboratories” actually allow virtual experiments. In

fact, the concept of Virtual Laboratory is used by the

Chemistry community for web sites that provide

different kinds of resources, ranging from theoretical

material, to questionnaires (that may be in a game

format or not), demonstrations of experiments or

even detailed experimental procedures.

Just to mention some of the selected sites, the

Portuguese “Laboratório Virtual de Química”

developed by Minho University is a depositary of

supporting information (materials & methods,

procedures, queries, etc.) to be used by the students

before their experimental lab classes. The Virtual

Chemistry Lab, from infoPlease, is a completely

different application, as it provides the possibility to

execute several experiments online, representing

what is occurring at the molecular level; this site can

be used both by students (to improve concepts) and

by teachers (to better illustrate these concepts to

their classes). Virtlab, that claims to have users

registered from 100 nations, can be seen as a good

tool to illustrate theoretical concepts (during a class,

for instance), or to compare with calculations results.

2.2.3 Virtual Reality Chemistry

Laboratories

Virtual Reality has to be considered as a valid option

for the integrating environment of the future Virtual

Laboratory. It exists already some Literature

concerning Virtual Reality applied to Chemistry,

ranging from overviews and tutorials about how to

develop such labs (Casher et al, 1998), to a set of

already implemented Virtual Reality solutions

(Georgiou et al, 2007); (Pérez et al., 2009).

Augmented Reality solutions (Azuma, 1997); (Braz

et al., 2007) are also worth to mention, as significant

progresses have recently been made in this field

(Núñez et al, 2007).

However, while a Virtual Reality environment is

seriously being considered to be used in the future

Virtual Lab, the use of an Augmented Reality

environment is out of the question, mainly because

of economic and technical reasons.

2.2.4 Chemistry Games

A simple Google query on Chemistry games gives

from 70E3 to 116E3 results (Table 1). These games

have, however, to be divided into games that really

require or illustrate some Chemistry, and others that

only use Chemistry as a theme or scenario, requiring

no real knowledge in the subject. In (Table 2) games

belonging to each category are presented. If we only

consider games that require an advanced level of

knowledge (Keck, 2000) we can state that most of

them are generally based on questionnaires, whether

a “time-attack” strategy is present or not.

Table 2: A few examples of claimed “Virtual

Laboratories”. Under the item “Demos” we include,

tutorials, theoretical material etc.

Name URL Chemistry Materials

Exper

iment

Quizz Demo

Virtual

Chemistry

http://www

.chem.ox.

ac.uk/vrch

emistry/

Movies of reactions between salts and

reagents. ii) The reagents of an organic

reaction appear and the student has to

draw the curly rows to indicate the

mechanism of that reaction. The

application answers back, saying

whether it is correct or not and giving

tips in the second case. iii) VSEPR: The

program shows one molecule, from a

list of 20, and the user has to select its

molecular geometry from a list. In case

it is correct, it shows a 3D

representation of that molecule.

Yes Yes Yes

VLabs

http://vlabs

.uminho.pt

/quimica/q

uimica.htm

Presents a list of experimental works,

including material & methods,

proceedings, safety instructions and

movies showing the experimental

procedures or illustrating particular

techniques.

Yes

Lab Virtual

Química

http://www

2.fc.unesp

.br/lvq/me

nu.htm

Description of several experiments:

involved materials and procedures.

Yes

Virtual

Chemistry

Lab

http://www

.infoplease

.com/che

mistry/siml

ab/

Illustrates several kinds of reactions at

molecular level. It is very interesting to

illustrate the role of each molecule

during a chemical reaction in solution.

Yes Yes Yes

Virtlab

http://www

.virtlab.co

m/main.as

nimations of several experiments

showing the evolution of several data in

time (concentrations, pH, temperatures,

etc.)

Yes

hydrogen

http://libra

y.thinkque

st.org/114

30/researc

h/index.ht

virtual experiments. The student virtually

“makes” the experiment and takes

conclusions.

Yes Yes

Electronic

Homework

Pages-

CSUDH

Chemistry

Dpt.

http://che

mistry2.cs

udh.edu/h

omework/

hwintro.ht

Exercises to do at home. At the end the

student puts his name and the name of

his instructor. We believe each

instructor has access to his students’

scores. It is not a game. It is just one

more source of exercises to solve.

Yes

3 MAIN CONTRIBUTION

Our main contribution should be evaluated against

existing solutions:

1. Paper exercises

2. Web questionnaires

3. Existing solutions for VSEPR study

Considering our own experience with the two first

items and the validation results presented below on section

5, a few words should be said about the identified tutorial

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Table 3: Examples of web pages with Chemistry games.

PT stands for Periodic Table; CR stands for Chemical

Reactions.

Game URL Description

Chemistry

Level

Chemistry

Games

http://www.s

heppardsoft

ware.com/El

ementsgame

s.htm

Learning mode: the user clicks over

the symbol of an element and its

main properties and characteristics

are displayed;

Gaming mode: questions about

families, elements, symbols of the

PT elements.

From

elementary

to advanced

Penalty

Shootout

Games

http://www.c

anaryzoo.co

m/Chemistry

%20Games.

htm

1. The user chooses a goal keeper.

2. A quiz appears. If the answer is

right, the user may shootout a

penalty and, if he has luck, it’s goal.

At the final of the game, there is a

score of the number of right

answers and the number of goals.

Elementary

Games for

School

Students

http://www.rs

c.org/Educati

on/SchoolSt

udents/game

s.asp

A set of games and tutorials that

range from the PT through CR, oils,

etc.

School level

Creative

Chemistry

http://www.cr

eative-

chemistry.or

g.uk/

Set of applications covering

elementary chemical chapters.

Some time-attack questions,

“impossible mission quizzes”, and

Chemical crosswords.

School level

General

Chemistry

Jeopardy

Games

http://cheme

d.chem.pitt.e

du/Jeopardy/

genchem/ind

ex.htm

Jeopardy games covering several

chapters of a Chemistry University

level course.

University

level

Chemistry

Lab

Escape

http://www.pl

ayonlineflash

game.com/2

008/11/play-

chemistry-

lab-

escape.html

The player is trapped on a

chemistry lab and has to use the

available clues to escape. The user

doesn’t need to have large

Chemistry knowledge. It is more

important to pay attention and be

luck.

None

Figure 1: LeMo’s component model through a model-

view-controller architecture.

and quiz available at Virtual Chemistry (first row on

Table 1). Following a tutorial about VSEPR theory,

the program shows one from a list of 20 molecules

and the user has to select its molecular geometry

from a list. In case it is correct, the application pops

up a 3D representation of that molecule.

The present application (described below in

section 4) is completely different:

1. LeMo is a game: it has levels, scores, lives,

noises, other players, etc.

2. LeMo is more demanding in terms of Chemistry

contents: it also includes the writing of Lewis

formulas, the determination of the polarity of the

molecules, the selection of the right angles between

Chemical bounds, etc.

3. LeMo is a “student-friendly” application, as it

points out the mistakes in real-time, with pop up

messages whenever a mistake is made.

4. LeMo database is more complete. Presently

includes 50 different molecules / molecular ions and

the possibility of being extended is provided.

Actually, LeMo is a prototype of a new strategy for

learning through gaming, which we intent to validate

in order to continue the development of our own

Virtual Laboratory.

4 LeMo

4.1 LeMo’s Architecture

4.1.1 Component Model

LeMo’s architecture may be described through the

model architecture used to its development (Figure

1).

In the Model-View-Controller (MVC)

architecture we have identified three, or four

components, if we consider the database as

separated from the Model component, which

considering its relevance for the parameterization of

the whole game, we deed.

1. the “Model” package contains all the application

data, which responds to requests for information

about their status and responds to instructions to

change state;

2. the “View” package which gives the Model

classes a form suitable for interaction, for example,

placing the atoms in the periodic table so that the

user can interact with them;

3. The “Controller” package which receives data

input from the user, such as clicking a button that

initiates a response by making calls to objects of the

package Model.

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4. Finally, the database component comprises three

main sets of information:

a. information about registered users;

b. the information about gaming and usage

statistics and, finally,

c. the information about the molecules and its

structure that are available for gaming.

This used architecture already proved its robustness

against changes in two ways: it took 4 person-hour

to completely translate the initial Portuguese

application used at EST Setúbal

(http://193.137.47.29/) to the English version

(http://193.137.47.29/ingles/) used in this paper and

the inclusion of a back office is being

straightforward, mainly due to the fact that it only

interacts with the database.

4.1.2 Physical Architecture

The physical architecture is pure client-server

(Figure 2), and the MVC component architecture

may be directly mapped to it: the View, Model,

Controller and database components are server

residents. The View component is a Web Interface

accessed by the client (user) computer through a

web browser and running on top of a web server.

The Model and Controller components are Java

Applications running on the server.

4.1.3 Development Platform

The database used was created with mysql. The web

interface is in php, so that users can alter their

profile if needed or simply play the game in the page

where it is called.

In selecting the technologies to be used, open

source technologies were preferred, not only because

they avoid unnecessary costs, but also because they

were more familiar. Java was chosen as the

programming language for the game application, as

it is present in most operating systems used around

the world, is used by both computers and mobile

devices, its robust, it has a very active community,

among other factors. In order to have the application

on the Web, an applet was decided to be created.

The development environment picked was

NetBeans IDE, as we consider IDE with a graphical

environment pleasant and easy to use.

To develop the application site, php was chosen

as language, as it is very powerful, very productive,

easy to learn and well suited for the development of

Web applications. Php is also easy to connect to the

database, becoming ideal for this application. The

choice of mysql as the DBMS is due to its

performance, and reliability.

Figure 2: LeMo’s Physical Architecture.

Figure 3: Development platform.

4.2 Playing LeMo

4.2.1 Access and Register

The first thing to do to experiment LeMo is going to

http://193.137.47.29/ingles/.

1. If it is the user’s first time, he should register.

2. After registration is complete, the user will be

redirected to the contacts page where a welcome

message appears and the player has access to his

email address (in case there is any problem or the

user wishes to give any suggestion).

4.2.2 Main Menu Options

Looking at the top menu on Figure 4 there are six

options: “Game”, “Personal Area”, “Rules”,

“Statistics”, “Contacts” and “Where we are?”

3. Selecting “Where we are?” the user’s location

will be presented in Google Maps.

4. If “Statistics” is selected, four tables of

punctuation will appear: maximum, minimum,

medium and stored. This tables show the top ten

players in each category.

5. Selecting “Rules”, the user has the possibility of

watching 3 videos showing how to play. Each video

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is a demonstration of each level of the game. Bellow

the video, the objective of each level is described.

6. Selecting “Personal Area” the user has the

possibility to change all his personal data, except the

email address.

Figure 4: Rules page.

4.2.3 Playing the Game

Finally selecting “Game” the player will have access

to game itself. When the game starts the player has

to choose between two modes of gaming, normal or

time attack (Figure 4).

The difference between them is that in time

attack mode there is a clock running backwards that

ends the game when the timer gets zero, sending an

alarm sound. The game also ends when the number

of lives equals to zero in both playing modes.

If the normal mode is selected the look of the

game will be has presented in Figure 5.

At the first level the player is supposed to draw

the Lewis formula of a given molecule or molecular

ion. In the example illustrated in Figure 5 the

chemical compound assign is CN

. At the left side

the user can find the total number of lives, the actual

number and his score. At the top of the game area

there is a periodic table and at the right side there are

four buttons, with the three types of possible bounds

to be formed between atoms (single, double and

triple bounds) and a lone pair of electrons not shared

(which is also a possibility for these formulas).

The player has to drag and drop the atoms from

the periodic table and the bounds/not shared electron

pairs form the connection buttons to the drawing

area in order to draw the Lewis formula of the

assigned molecule/molecular ion.

These elements can be rotated and deleted from

the drawing area by clicking with the right mouse

button; the atom element can also be given a positive

or negative formal charge using the same button.

If the structure to be drawn is a resonance hybrid

(which means that has to be represented by several

Lewis formulas, each one representing each

contributing structure) the player has to choose the

resonance hybrid option, above the drawing area and

select how many contributing structures are necessary.

Several extra drawing areas will be created, depending on

the number of contributing structures. When the player

finishes the Lewis formula representation, he clicks the

confirm button.

If the Lewis formula is correct, score will be

added to the score board and a congratulations

message will appear, also asking whether the player

wants to proceed to the next level or quit.

In case the structure is wrong, score will be

removed from the score board, a life will be taken

and a message mocking with the player and given

tips about the possible mistakes he made will appear.

After the user succeeds in the first level and

confirms the wish to continue, the second level

layout appears. In this second level (Figure 6) the

player has to attribute geometry to the

molecule/molecular ion which Lewis formula he

drawn in the previous level, using the VSEPR

theory.

At the top of the game area there are two

dropdown boxes that the player will use to select the

correct combination of angle and geometry.

Whenever the player chooses a possible

combination an animated 3D image of the geometry

appears. Note that this only indicates that the

combination is possible, not that it is correct.

After choosing the combination the player has to

click in the confirm button. Then, like in the first

level, in case the player has succeed, a

congratulations message will appear, also asking

whether the player wants to continue to the third and

final level. Score will also be added to the score

board. In case the player chosen a wrong geometry,

score will be removed from the score board, a life

will be taken and a message mocking with the player

will be shown.

Once the player has completed the second level

and confirmed he wants to continue, the third and

last level layout is shown.

In this third level, as shown in Figure 7, the atoms

are presented in the same locations the player has

chosen at the first level (which may not correspond

to their real locations, according to the VSEPR

theory and the attributed geometry).

The player has to drag and drop the vectors to the

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Figure 5: First level in normal mode.

Figure 6: Second level in normal mode.

draw area in the right place and direction, and select

the polarity of the structure in a dropdown box for

that purpose.

If the player succeeds, the game is over. Score

will be added to the score board and a congratulation

message with his archived rank is shown at the

sound of fireworks. At the same time the total score

of the player is transferred to the database, to be

used in the statistics of the game.

The player may then choose to play again in

order to get a higher score or to leave the game.

4.2.4 Funny Error Messages and

Competition

All messages in this game have a type of language

oriented to the students.

Since the main objective of the game is to be fun

in order to increase the study duration and improve

students memory in this topics, all messages have

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Figure 7: Third level in normal mode.

also funny sounds and the game has music in

background (that can, however, be turned off).

In order to increase competition between

students and increase the time of study, the players

may consult the high scores, accumulated scores,

minimum scores and medium score charts.

5 VA L I D AT I O N

A group of 30 students attending the Chemistry

course of the 1

year of Mechanical Engineering in

EST Setúbal were divided into three test groups.

During one week group #1 was only allowed to

study by the exercise book, group #2 by the moodle

interactive exercises and group #3 by LeMo. All

these students were attending the Chemistry course

for the first time. After one week, all students were

submitted to a written test and an inquiry.

As seen in (Figure 8), 64% of the students using

the exercise book found that method boring and 9%

very boring. 67% of the students using moodle still

found it boring, but as much as 33% answered that it

was fun. In the test group #3, only 33% of the

students classified it as boring. Indeed, 67% of the

students said that studying by LeMo was a funny

alternative.

The same figure also shows that 91% of the

students using the exercise book considered it as a

good method and 9% as very good. The opinions

were more spread in the group of students that

solved the moodle virtual exercises: 17% classified

the method as poor, 50% as good and 33% as very

good. The majority of the students from group #3

(67%) considered LeMo a very good method for

studying molecular structures and 33% good.

Figure 8: Answers of the students from each of the three

groups to the same question “How do you classify the

method you used to study this chapter?”.

For 90% of the students in group #1, the major

advantage of the exercise book is that they are used

to it. For group #2, 67% of the students reported that

the major advantage of solving the interactive

exercises on moodle is the pop up tips that appear

whenever students give wrong answers. Concerning

LeMo, students were required to point out the three

main advantages: 70% mentioned the real-time error

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messages, 40% referred the competition with the

colleagues and 40% stated the game was user-

friendly. Note that moodle tips are much more

generalist than the error messages of LeMo.

LeMo was well accepted by students, which

identified and appreciated the fun character of the

game and considered it a good tool for studying

these matters.

Normal mode is preferred by 83% of the

students, as it allows more time to think and to read

the messages, while 17% prefer time-attack mode,

saying that it is more challenging.

6 CONCLUSIONS AND FURTHER

WORK

As said above, the aim of LeMo is to provide a new

method for practicing the writing of Lewis formulas

and applying VSEPR theory in a game format, in

order to both motivate students not to give up and to

help them memorizing images and concepts though

emotions.

The developed application is absolutely new and,

to our knowledge, completely different from all the

others found in the cyberspace. It is more complete

in terms of contents, has a larger database, is funnier

than other applications dedicated to Chemical

Structures, and is more adequate then other previous

attempts made by the same group, as the moodle

inquiries.

The evaluation of LeMo shows that a large

majority of the students preferred to study using this

new application. They considered LeMo a very good

tool mainly because of the real-time pop up

messages that point out their mistakes but also

because they found it funny and challenging, which

induces positive emotions. Are the latest

contributing to their learning process? It is our

opinion that further work is still required. Further

validation tests are already planned to occur during

the final exam of the Chemistry course for

Mechanical Engineering students, with a larger test

group (≈ 130 students) and with a new enquire

(more directed to emotions).

As said, LeMo was developed as a permanent

beta release, to be incrementally updated according

to the users’ feedbacks. Three tasks are already

scheduled:

1. Development of a back-office allowing an easier

introduction of new molecules in the database,

replacing the current process (that involves tables) –

this task is already in progress.

2. The full integration into the EST Setúbal e-

learning platform, rather than the current link to the

LeMo hosting site.

3. Development of an integrating environment,

possibly using Virtual Reality, where LeMo will be

one of the available applications.

Tasks number 2 and 3 are planned to start as soon as

the second validation process is finished and gaming

success unequivocally proven. They will mark the

beginning of the ESTSetúbal Chemistry Virtual

Gaming-Lab.

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