Organic Chemistry CD-ROM
Reuben Meder
Katikati College
Year 12 ICT
Teacher: Malcolm Howard
Reuben identified Chemistry as one of the more complex subjects in the curriculum, and one that many Year 12 students find harder to grasp than their other subjects. He decided to develop an interactive CD-ROM to help students studying to meet the criteria for the NCEA Level 2 Organic Chemistry Achievement Standard.
With his chemistry teacher and fellow students as stakeholders, Reuben researched the issue and worked towards the development of his final brief. His solution had to be factually correct, cover all aspects of the Organic Chemistry Standard, incorporate plenty of graphics, make good use of colour and be easily used and understood by the target Year 12 audience.
He undertook extensive stakeholder consultation to develop and model his conceptual designs, which included the use of a speaking character who acts as a guide.
Reuben's comments
"Overall, I am very pleased with the project as it meets everything that was required and is of the highest quality that I could manage within the given time frame. The information I used was supplied by my chemistry teacher so was of the highest quality and was exactly what had to be learned in order to pass the Organic Chemistry Standard. The quiz questions came directly from the information so the answers can be found if the information is looked at and learnt. The audio adds another dimension to the multimedia aspect of the project and makes the people who use it feel more involved and a bigger part of it.
"The character is one of my favourite parts of the whole project as it is a bit of fun and keeps people amused but since it is only on some of the pages it does not take away from the serious chemistry side of the project."
Chemistry Teacher comment
"The outcome is great help to Year 12 students doing organic chemistry. Students liked the simple use of colour and fonts, which did not detract from the information on the pages and was still pleasing to look at. The diagrams get across the information in another format and the glossary page which is available enabled them to search for words that weren't explained in the project. The quizzes were an excellent way of self-testing to see how much knowledge had been retained."
Student comments
"I liked having the talking character as it was amusing and still chemistry related. I also liked being able to start and stop the audio at will so that I could listen to it sometimes and then not listen to it at other times when I was sick of it."
– Megan, Year 12 student
"The students didn't find the information too hard to understand and thought that it was all well written and made sense. The addition of diagram examples was a great help also, as it helped explain the writing and get the information across. The end of chapter quizzes also proved helpful as they were a way of checking how much of the information had actually stuck in my mind and how much I needed to go back and read over again." – Luke, Year 12 student
