Using Eye-Movements to Explain Processing Triple Level of Chemical Information: Systematic Review

Abstract

The focus of this systematic literature review was to examine eye-tracking studies in the chemistry classroom and to evaluate the usefulness of eye-tracking in studying students’ learning of complex chemical concepts. The reviewed studies primarily used small samples of students, with undergraduate students being the most studied population, and measured variables such as eye movements, fixation time, pupil dilation, and others. The results show that higher performing students have shorter fixation time and learn better with models, with prior knowledge being an important factor. However, both students rely mainly on the symbolic level of presentations with better performing students being more successful at giving explanations. Problems with the complexity of data analysis were reported in the studies.