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Abstract

Students from the advanced high school classes up to the last university years have difficulties in grasping the notions involved in the description of the Quantum Atomic Model (QAM). Many researchers suggest that using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for visualizing the QAM would improve students’ understanding. An empirical study was conducted with 20 first-year students of the Department of Primary Education. They interacted with two Internet-based software packages, considered as representative 3D visualizations of the QAM. For the analysis of our results, a qualitative approach was taken by using SOLO (Structure of the Observed Learning Outcomes) taxonomy. Our results indicated that software packages concerning the 3D representations of QAM do not help students to understand scientific concepts and the atomic shape. The article proposes the use of Virtual Reality Technologies for the creation of atomic visualizations based on scientific data that support conceptual change

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Kontogeorgiou, A., Bellou, J., Mikropoulos, T.A. (2007). Visualizing the Quantum Atom. In: Pintó, R., Couso, D. (eds) Contributions from Science Education Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-5032-9_35

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