The Evaluating the Use of ChemTube3D to Enhance Students’ Conceptual Understanding of Nucleophilic Substitution Reactions
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The limited use of interactive 3D visual media in higher education chemistry instruction, particularly for topics requiring spatial and dynamic visualization such as nucleophilic substitution reactions (SN1 and SN2), serves as the main issue addressed in this study. This research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of ChemTube3D in enhancing students’ conceptual understanding of these reaction mechanisms. A quasi-experimental one-group pretest-posttest design was employed, involving 19 students from the Chemistry Education Study Program. Research instruments included a conceptual essay test consisting of 10 open-ended questions to assess subject mastery, and a Likert-scale perception questionnaire to capture students’ responses to the use of ChemTube3D. Data were analyzed using normalized gain (N-Gain) calculations and descriptive analysis. The results revealed a significant improvement in posttest scores, with an average N-Gain of 0.54, classified as moderate. Furthermore, the majority of students responded positively to ChemTube3D, particularly regarding the clarity of reaction visualizations and ease of access. These findings suggest that ChemTube3D is an effective instructional medium for bridging submicroscopic and symbolic representations in complex chemical reactions.
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