Principal Investigator: Jin Montclare
CoPrincipal Investigator(s):
Organization: New York University

Abstract:
This project is designed to further develop the Lewis Dots iOS app, expanding its features. There is an educational need for improved sharing and collaboration tools in the classroom and the team is working to develop a prototype to test additional features of their app that harness collaborative learning, instant metadata feedback, and gamified learning. The Lewis Dots invention provides user with a touch-screen experience of chemistry. Future development of this technology plans to enable a more visual tool for communicating chemistry concepts, allowing teachers to communicate with students, but also students to communicate with teachers and amongst each other. The project team’s approach considers learning in the classroom as a user experience from both the teacher and student perspectives.

There are few ubiquitous interactive methods to communicate chemistry amongst K-12 or higher-education students. Furthermore, the influx of gadgets and media into students’ lives consistently bombard the focus and engagement of students toward subject material. If this project is successful, the team hopes that the Lewis Dots app will enhance the learning of chemistry amongst students by offering a new platform for communication. With the education technology market experiencing a glut of existing solutions for independent study and assessment/testing, this project may prove to be a disruptive innovation in the education technology market, allowing students to better learn from teachers and from each other.