Journal of Science Education and Technology, Vol. 6, No. 1, 1997

CHEMMAT: Adaptive Multimedia Courseware forChemistry

Sun-Teck Tan1 and Lian-Kuan Tan2

The trend towards Multimedia technology in Education is exemplified by the growing num-ber of "multimedia ready" classrooms. Besides using the conventional computer-based train-ing techniques, courseware has included multimedia capabilities, such as graphics, sound,animation, and video clips. This paper illustrates the development of such multimedia course-ware. Additionally, this courseware employs sound instructional and learning strategies;thereby making the courseware not only educational, but also captivating. The other uniquefeature of the courseware is its adaptability. Teachers who are not computer experts can usethe "Teacher" module to modify and add content to the courseware. By selecting the pre-defined objects, and/or filling in a form, the teachers can create simple animation by usingthe module. Another good feature is the ease of customizing the content in different lan-guages. This is illustrated by the translation of a module in CHEMMAT into Chinese.

KEY WORDS: Multimedia; CAI; adaptive; chemistry.

INTRODUCTION

In Singapore, the importance which our societyplaces on education today is evident in many ways.Perhaps, it is best illustrated by the amount of fundswhich governing bodies set aside for education eachyear. Since 1993, most secondary schools and poly-technics in Singapore have been busy buying CD-ROM drives and are looking seriously at using mul-timedia to make learning more exciting and enter-taining (Liew, 1995). They are investing money tomake classrooms "multimedia ready" as the countrymoves towards being an intelligent island. Schoolsuse multimedia for several reasons: it is used tostimulate students' interest in some subjects and asa supplement to classroom teaching; the graphics andanimation make the subject come alive, so that learn-ing the subject is much easier; animation, voice andvideo clips are used to implement various teaching

1Dept. of Information Systems and Computer Science, NationalUniversity of Singapore.

2Mathematics and Science Centre, Negee Ann Polytechnic, Singa-pore.

strategies such as tutorials, activities, and games; CD-ROM collection is used as a research tool for thestudents; and a multimedia presentation can makeclass and school projects so much more fun. Thesefactors also motivated the authors to develop a mul-timedia courseware—CHEMMAT

The computer is a tool that can present knowl-edge to students in ways that have not previously beenpossible. In part, this is a matter of logistics and scale.Nevertheless, the computer—in particular the multi-media computer—offers new ways in which ideas canbe represented to students and new models of inter-action. It may take quite some time for these changesto be fully realized, but they can be anticipated asgenuine contributions to education. At the same time,it is important to understand that in the end, the com-puter is only a tool, just as the book and the pencilare tools. In education tools can be used with positiveor negative results. Education is, after all, one of thesubtlest of human activities. Whether the potentialbenefits that the computer seems to offer are actuallyachieved depends largely on the teachers who use it.Therefore, teachers should be encouraged to use thiseducation tool, or even be involved in the develop-

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ment of the tool. In CHEMMAT, this is promoted bythe "Teacher" module.

Multimedia involves students in active, ratherthan passive, learning through physical interactionand cognitive engagement. Active learning can serveto maintain attention, create new knowledge, and im-prove achievement. Research in learning styles indi-cates that some students learn better through specificmodalities, such as visual, audio, or kinaesthetic.Some students are visual learners, some learn throughhearing, and some learn by touch. Multimedia pro-vides instruction through multiple sensory channels,allowing students to use the sensory modes that theyprefer. Another advantage of multimedia trainingprograms is that they can be non-linear and allow stu-dents to explore the content form multiple perspec-tive, for example, by using the hypertext. Multimediaprograms that employ this methodology can "helpstudents develop rich mental models as the basis forfuture learning; create environments that permit sus-tained exploration by students and teachers; and de-velop integrated knowledge structures that helpstudents transfer knowledge to more complex tasks"(Barron, et al., 1995). Technology can inspire studentsby making learning interactive and relevant. The factthat students enjoy working with technology and,therefore, stay on tasks for longer periods of time, isa valuable, long-term benefit. Many environments aretoo dangerous for training programs, for example, achemical reaction may cause an explosion. In thesecases, it is often possible to design a multimedia pro-gram that enables the students to interact with simu-lations of the environment without safety hazards.

CHEMMAT

CHEMMAT, an educational software package onCHEMistry with Multimedia enhancement and anAssistant to Teachers, is a computer-aided instructionthat aims to help students who take Chemistry in theirG. C. E. 'O' level. It is developed using the AsymetrixMultimedia Toolbook (CBT Edition). It intends tocover the whole syllabus for the Cambridge 'O' levelChemistry examination. The current topics includeAtoms, Elements and Compounds; Electricity andChemistry; Chemical Reactions; Periodic Table; Bal-ancing of Equations; and Experiments. It incorporatesmultimedia capabilities, such as hypertext, sound,graphics, animation, and video clip. Multimedia alonecannot offer a more effective architecture to deliver

training. It must be based on sound instructional andlearning strategies, so that the course can be tailoredto the students' unique needs and interests. ForCHEMMAT, it has included rule of thumb of learningChemistry from experienced Chemistry teachers andbased on the software developed by students from theDepartment of Information Systems and ComputerScience of the National University of Singapore. Thematerial included in CHEMMAT are from text booksand have been adapted with the help of Chemistryteachers in several schools.

The teachers are the best persons to develop thecourse contents. However, not many teachers arecomputer-literate. It may not be cost-effective to aska Chemistry teacher to learn a new authoring tool be-fore he can make some changes or add new modulesto the courseware. For this reason, CHEMMAT pro-vides a "Teacher" module that allows the teachers tocreate or modify the contents. In addition, the moduleincludes layout formats for page design; a graphicslibrary that consists of commonly used apparatuses;commonly used scripts for buttons; scripts requiredto play sound or video; and even procedures to leadthe teacher to generate new animation. With thewidespread use of the Chinese operating system, thecourseware can be easily "translated" into Chinese sothat it can be used in Chinese speaking countries.

MULTIMEDIA CAPABILITIES FOR EFFECTIVETRAINING

Textbooks create images of chemistry by usingwords, tables, graphs, and still photos, but they aremissing the dynamic element, which is so importantin understanding chemical processes and concepts(Dori, 1995). With a simple click on the hotwords,the students will know the definition of the termi-nology. Figure 1 gives an example of using hotwordin CHEMMAT. Cartoons and photographic images areused to attract students' attention. Therefore, theyare included in CHEMMAT whenever it is appropri-ate. To give the students a quick overview of whatthe chapter is about, a video clip, an animation, ora photographic image is included in the objectivepage of each chapter. Photographic images such asthe setup of electrolysis, and titration are also in-cluded. Figure 2 shows an example of using analogyin the objective page for Chemical Reactions.

People retain more information from what theysee and hear. To increase students' impressions on

Adaptive Multimedia Courseware 73

Fig. 1. An Example on Hotword.

Fig. 2. An Example of Using Analogy.

the procedures, speech is included. Figure 3 showsthe procedure for performing flame tests when thestudents click on the word "How??". In addition tothe highlighted text, voice is also included. Video clipslet the students have the feeling that they are watch-ing the demonstrator performing the experiments. Itincludes flame tests, testing of gases, testing of cat-ions, and testing of anions. Superimposed text andsound give students better knowledge and highlightsthe important points. Figure 4 shows a snapshot ofthe video clip on adding NaOH on Cu2+ solution.Although video clips (digital formats) can be ma-nipulated easily and offer increase interactivity, a ma-jor impediment to digital systems is that digital videorequires an enormous amount of computer storage

Fig. 3. How to Perform Flame Tests.

Fig. 4. A Snapshot on Playing a Video Clip.

space and is very difficult for a computer to processdigital video at the standard display rate of analogvideo, 30 frames per second. For these reasons, in-stead of video clips, some of the experiments andconcept illustrations are presented using animations.Figure 5 shows a snapshot of an animation to explainthe procedure of titration.

INSTRUCTIONAL AND LEARNINGSTRATEGIES

Quite naturally, the student will find the courseboth informative and captivating since the informa-tion is presented at the point of need—sound instruc-

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Fig. 5. A Snapshot on Playing an Animation.

tional and learning strategies. Therefore, the role ofmultimedia is a means of implementing the architec-ture, rather than an end in itself. For example, ananimation on how to balance an equation guides theweaker students through the thinking process (seeFigure 6 for a snapshot of the guide). The "Learn-by-Discovery" learning strategy is employed in thecourseware. It is assumed that the trainee will ac-tively explore information, according to his or herspecific needs and interests, in order to fulfill a goal.To facilitate this, CHEMMAT offers the trainee thebuttons and hypertext, intuitive human-computer in-terface. The buttons let the students have the controlto view the animation/video clip when desired. The

Fig. 6. Guides on How to Balance an Equation.

hypertext gives the students more detailed explana-tion.

The exercises provided at the end of each mod-ule are to respond to individual differences in learn-ing by providing remedial instruction when students'responses are incorrect (Jonassen, 1996). Most of theexercises are presented in multiple-choice format.When an incorrect responses is entered by the stu-dent, the system will display an explanation (pro-vided by experienced teachers) for the possible causeof the mistake. An example is shown in Figure 7. Thestudent has clicked on a wrong answer and the pop-up window explains his mistake and shows the cor-rect answer. In addition, after the pop-up window isclosed, the correct answer is highlighted. Upon com-pletion of the exercise, the student can click on abutton to check his performance. He can also chooseto review the questions.

As for multiple-choice questions, the studentmay have the tendency to answer just by guessing.''Answer-Matching" is another type of questions' for-mat. This type of testing promotes more active formof learning for the students. Figure 8 shows an ex-ample of a student's solution. The arrows representthe answers selected by the student, and the high-lighted words near the diagrams are the correct an-swers. In addition, the student can also click on theapparatus to obtain additional information, such asthe function of the apparatus, tips on using the ap-paratus, and the experiments where the apparatuswill be used. Figure 9 shows the pop-up window on"Volumetric Measurements" when the student click-on the apparatus "Graduated Cylinder".

Fig. 7. Multiple-Choice Question.

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Fig. 8. A Snapshot of "Matching" Exercise.

Fig. 9. Pop-up Window on "Vol. Measurement".

TEACHER MODULE

Currently, most of the existing courseware in useis static. That is, after the development, the contentsare difficult to change if you are not the developer.In addition, the syllabus may change or a teachermay have a better way of teaching a chapter. The"Teacher" module enables a teacher who is familiarwith Windows technology (use of menus, mouse), butwho may not have any computer programming back-ground to modify the courseware, and add in chap-ters, topics, or even animations. Table I summarizesthe features included in this module.

In this paper, only the ''Animation" function willbe described. Readers who are interested can refer

Table I. Features Available in TEACHER Module

New Module

Contents

Layout

Graphics Library

Hotword

Button

Script

Animation

Sound

Video

provides a new book with template, and anew button in Main Menu

allows addition, modification, or deletion ofa chapter or topic

provides predefined layouts, such as a whitetext block at the left side of the screen, anda stage at the right of the screen

provides pre-drawn apparatus and equipment

creates a page for entering the details of thehotword. The size of the page variesaccording to the length of the hotworddescription

provides button to play clip, or to activateanimation

allows adding scripts on mouseEnter andmouseLeave to any object, and invokes thescript editor for scripts editing

provides form for entering the animationsteps, generates the scripts and can beplaced in a text file, a book script, a pagescript, or a burton script

includes the necessary resource to play thesound and can be played by entering a pageor by clicking a button

includes the necessary resource to play a clipin a stage and can be played automaticallyby entering a page, or by clicking a button

to (Pek-Tan, 1996) for the implementation of theTeacher module.

In CHEMMAT, each animation procedure isstored in a book in the "animate" subdirectory. Eachanimation procedure may contain more than onestep. Each step is stored in one page and is given aunique sequence number, which is the page numberof the book. The teacher can test each step and resetit to the original situation after the test. He can navi-gate and modify each step in the procedure. At theend of design, he can: (a) save the animation to atext file, (b) activate the animation when a user en-ters the page, (c) keep the animation as a globalfunction to be used in this book, or (d) include theanimation in the buttonClick handler of a button.

After choosing the "Tips" menu and selectingthe ''Animation/Create" option, the teacher will beprompted to enter the name of the book to store the

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Fig. 10. Form for Animation Procedure.

animation procedure. Figure 10 shows the emptyform after the creation of the animation book. Foreach action, except "pause", the teacher has to spec-ify the type and the name of the object for the ani-mation action to be performed. The type of objectincludes button, curve, ellipse, field, group, irregular-Polygon, line, rectangle, and roundedRectangle.When an action is selected, the teacher may be re-quired to fill in the relevant dialog box. To helphim/her in entering the data, this dialog box is par-

Fig. 11. Move Action in the Animation Procedure.

tially filled by the system. For example, when the"move" action is selected (as in Figure 11), the po-sition field in the dialog box is filled with the currentposition of the object. Table II summarizes the ac-tions that can be performed.

After the teacher has completed the animationprocedure, he/she can save the animation as a textfile, a book script, a page script, or a button script.In all cases, a script function write Records will becalled to write the openScript statements as listed in

Table II. Summary on the Animation Actions

Action

ShowHidePause

Write Text

Move

Stretch

Fill ColorStroke Color

Functions

Parameters

objType, objNameobjType, objNamen ticksn secondsfield, objName, descriptionbutton, objName, descriptionobjType, objName, positionobjType, objName, rel-posobjType, objName, upperLeft,lowerRightobjType, objName, fillColorobjType, objName,strokeColordrip, objName, objType, from-pos, to-posdropLevel, objName, objType,from-pos, to-posheat, objName, objType,upperLeft, lowerRightstir, objName, objType, from-pos, to-pos

Statement generated

show objType "objName"hide objType "objName"pause n tickspause n secondsset text of field "objName" to "description"set caption of button "objName" to "description"move objType "objName" to positionmove objType "objName" by rel-posset bounds of objType "objName" to upperLeft, lowerRight

set rgbFill of objType "objName" to fillColorset rgbStroke of objType "objName" to strokeColor

send drip objType, "objName", from-pos, to-pos

send dropLevel objType, "objName", from-pos, to-pos

send heat, objType, "objName", upperLeft, lowerRight

send stir objType, "objName", from-pos, to-pos

Adaptive Multimedia Courseware

Table II. In addition, if the handler to be written ex-ists in the script, the system will prompt the teacherto edit the script as he/she is the best person to de-cide whether to delete the old script or to combineboth of them. To reduce the time required to createanimation scripts, scripts such as a drop drippingfrom the dropper, lower the solution level in a con-tainer, heating, and stirring are included in the"Function" action. These predefined handlers arestored in "TEMPLATE.TBK". Below shows thedropLevel handler.

Scheme I.

to handle dropLeve! objType, objName, ux_pos,uy_pos, lx_pos,ly_possystem animPathpageNo = item 5 of animPathbookName = item 6 of animPathvStep = (uy_pos - ly_pos) / 1 0get objType &&"""" & objName & """" && "of page" && pageNo \

&& "of book" && """" & bookName & """"stmt = ititem 1 of posList = ux_positem 3 of posList = lx_positem 4 of posList = ly_posstep i from Ho 10

item 2 of posList = uy_pos -i'vStepget "set bounds of && stmt && "to" && posListexecute it

end stepend dropLeve!

Again, to help the teacher to fill in the functiondialog box, portions of the form will be filled (seeFigure 12). To illustrate the generation of the Open-Script statements from the animation steps, a book"SAMPLE1.TBK" has been created that includes all

Fig. 12. "DropLevel" Function Dialog Box.

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the actions available. Table III lists the statementsgenerated from this book. The animation handler isgiven as animTest.

CUSTOMIZATION

Customized materials open a broad range ofpossibilities in education [Hodges, et al., 1993]. Toshow that it is feasible to customize CHEMMAT bychanging the existing body of information, one of themodules "Chemical Reactions" has been translatedinto Chinese (Figure 13). The scripts and the buttonsavailable in the English and Chinese version are the

Table III. OpenScript Statements Generated fromSAMPLE1.TBK

to handle animTestshow field "reset"pause 4 tickshide field "reset"set caption of button "sound" to "Voice"move group "test tube" to 2000,2790set bounds of rectangle "buret body" to 1015,3800,1215,3793set bounds of rectangle "buret body" to 1015,2188,1215,3793set rgbFill of button "sound" to 0,0,255set rgbStroke of button"sound" to 255,255,128send drip ellipse, "drop", 3725,2630, 3725,3200send dropLevel rectangle, "buret body", 1015,2188,1215,3793pause 2 secondsset bounds of rectangle "buret body" to 1015,2188,1215,3793send heat group, '"fire", 3845,2690,4151,3617send stir group, "spoon", 2945,2345

end

Fig. 13. A Page in Chinese.

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same, except that Chinese Star is used to enter thetext and the captions of buttons in Chinese charac-ters. By clicking the Chinese button, the student canmove to the same page of the corresponding Chinesebook, while clicking the English/Chinese button, thestudent can move back to the English version.

FUTURE WORK

Interpreter for Editing Animation Procedure

Currently, the "Edit Animation" option in the"Teacher" module only works on books created bythe "Create Animation" option. An interpretershould be written to read in any handler and trans-late the script into records for editing. For Open-Script statements not included in the Teachermodule, a special record should be created. Althoughno testing is available for this record, the teacher canstill modify it and save the animation subsequently.

Computer Management System

Another area to be considered is to implementthe computer management system in the courseware.With Multimedia Toolbook CBT Edition, the authorcan automatically add scoring and tracking featuresto the courseware. He/She can specify scoring andtracking options in the Scoring, Tracking tab in theBook Properties—CBT Extensions dialog box.

If the teacher wants a more detailed record ofthe students' work, he/she can enable logging optionsin the CBT Edition Book Properties dialog box.These options let the teacher determine what infor-mation to include in the log, the format of the logfiles, and how to store the log files. The school caneven specify that log files are encrypted for security.Moreover, the teacher can query the CMS to get in-formation about the current course, including itsname, database ID, and whether the student has fin-ished the course. This is useful, for example, to printa certificate of completion.

If scoring is enabled for the book, only questionsor other items in the book that have scoring turnedon will be included in the score. This total score iscalculated when the student leaves the book (onleaveApplication) and is reported to the student. Ifa student is taking a course using the CMS, the CMS

can navigate properly to the next incomplete modulein the course.

Internet

With the new Internet feature available in Tool-book II Instructor, the courseware could be en-hanced to allow instantaneous access to Web pages.The vast information resources in the World WideWeb would enable students to explore different de-velopments at other sites, for example, spreadsheetsimulations for analytical chemistry, a view of a mo-lecular model, a database on the Periodic Table ofthe Elements, and a virtual chemistry library. Sinceevery page in the Multimedia Toolbook Internet ver-sion is a Web page, student could access the course-ware through Internet. This would promote widerparticipation. The feedback gathered could be usedto improve the quality of the courseware. In addition,with the Java applets, the authors could create "live"web pages which would allow a user to see interactiveChemistry experiments.

CONCLUSION

One fundamental concern of educators has al-ways been to find effective ways of bringing informa-tion to the hands and minds of their students. As wemove towards the end of this century, a new para-digm that redefines the relationship between infor-mation and teaching and learning is emerging[Petruk et al., 1993]. In this new paradigm, teachersand students alike are engulfed in a sea of informa-tion which is constantly changing. The teacher is nolonger the only source of information. Learning willbe far more self directed in accordance with one'spersonal needs and aspirations and the role of theteacher will change from being content expert to be-ing learning coach. Our approach to teaching andlearning will begin to shift more towards learning andless towards teaching. Learning will continue to beenhanced through technology that empowers thelearner, enabling her to reach out electronically andretrieve information rapidly as needed. Learning re-sources which incorporate appropriate elements oftext, graphics, animation, sound and movies will re-place traditional print resources commonly in use to-day. Therefore, multimedia courseware is going toreplace the traditional drill and practice method.

Adaptive Multimedia Courseware 79

Moreover, providing flexibility in modifying the con-tents of the courseware will be the trend for course-ware development.

Acknowledgments—The authors would like toexpress their gratitude to Dr. Brown John Wesley forproofreading this paper.

REFERENCES

Barron, A. E. and Orwig, G. W. (1995). Multimedia Technologiesfor Training: An Introduction, Libraries Unlimited, Inc.

Dori, Y. J. (1995). Cooperative Studyware Development of Or-ganic Chemistry Module by Experts, Teachers, and Students.Journal of Science Education and Technology, Vol.4, No. 2.

Jonassen, D. H. (1996). Computers in the Classroom: Mindtools forCritical Thinking, Prentice Hall.

Hodges, M. E. and Sasnett, R. M. (1993). Multimedia Computing:Case Studies from MIT Project Athena, Addision-Wesley Pub-lishing Company.

Liew, M. (1995). Lessons come alive with multimedia. The StraitsTimes, Singapore, 6 September, 1995.

Pek-Tan L. K. (1996). Dissertation for MSc.: "CHEMMAT: AnAdaptive Multimedia Courseware on Chemistry", National Uni-versity of Singapore.

Petruk, M. W. and Popowich, G. (1993). Multimedia Implementa-tion Strategies in a Changing Educational Environment. InPhillips, D. and Desrochers, R (Eds.), Multimedia Communi-cations: Forging the link: Market-Technology-Policy. Proceedingsof the Multimedia Communications '93 Conference, Banff,Alberta, Canada. Apr 1993.