TsoiChem: A Mobile Application to Facilitate Student Learning in Organic Chemistry

Mobile devices, such as the iPhone, are potentially powerful learning tools, with their touch screen capabilities and highly interactive and engaging applications available for download. The dependence of today's student on mobile devices also contributes to the possibility of increased student engagement and time-on-task -- both factors in student success. This paper describes the development of a mobile application (app) created as a learning tool for organic chemistry students. The learning needs of organic chemistry students studying the topic "functional groups" were first identified, appropriate learning theories were chosen, and then a functional prototype of the mobile application "TsoiChem" was designed and then created using Apple's iOS Software Development Kit. Unlike many existing chemistry applications, this application leverages the multi-touch feature of iPhone to teach fundamentals of functional groups to students and incorporated several learning theories and models in doing so. The ways in which learning theories and models helped inform the design of this mobile app will be discussed.