Abstract

Studies in Science Education, 21 (1993) 99-121 Studies Involving Three-Dimensional Visualisation Skills in Chemistry: A Review HELE N TUCKEY and MAILOO SELVARATNAM University of Bophuthatswana Three-dimensional visualisation is an important skill and a large amount of research has been conducted to test the competence of both the adult population and students of various age groups in this skill. Three previous reviews of aspects of this field have been published: a review of cross-cultural research in picture perception (Miller, 1973) and two reviews of the psychological theories of spatial abilities (McGee, 1979; Eliot and Hauptman, 1981). In this review we mainly consider studies concerned with three-dimensional visualisation skills in chemistry. These skills are needed throughout chemistry (for example, in stereochemistry) and students who do not have these skills will be seriously handicapped in their learning of chemistry. There are different levels of difficulty associated with three-dimensional visualisation skills. The simplest, the spatial visualisation component, involves the accurate perception of spatial patterns in three-dimensional objects, from their two-dimensional representations. At a higher level is the spatial orientation aspect; the ability to imagine how a representation will appear from a different perspective. At an even higher level is the ability to visualise