Abstract:

Mobile and Wireless Technologies (MWT), especially tablets and smartphones, are changing our relationship with information and the way knowledge is produced. The educational perspective that uses the MWT is promoted by the installed Apps, which confer different functionalities on the mobile devices. Specifically for teaching and learning Organic Chemistry, the visualization and interactivity rendered feasible by Chemistry Apps enable experiences that broaden the understanding of this science. Aiming to identify the Apps with a potential for the teaching and learning processes in Organic Chemistry, the objective of this work was to select, categorize and later identify the possible applications of the Apps tor teaching and learning Organic Chemistry. Thus, a search was performed for Apps for the iOS and Android operational systems in the Play Store and AppStore virtual stores. The purpose of this study was to find the Apps related to the key word “Organic Chemistry”. As a result, 66 Apps were selected in the virtual “Play Store” and 40 Apps in the virtual “App Store”. Of the 106 Apps selected, 59 were analyzed, since they met the following premises: friendly interface, download and access to the free content. The data obtained analyzing the 59 Apps enabled us to separate them into categories that emphasize their functionalities: games, instructional material, visualization of chemical structures, animation and database. For each of these categories, subcategories were created regarding the topics of Organic Chemistry discussed. The detailing of these Apps, including the categories and the topics of Organic Chemistry discussed will be presented in the final article. Based on these results it was possible to identify the main free Apps that can contribute to teaching and learning Organic Chemistry, making it possible to carry out interactive activities, simulation of submicroscopic structure and experiments.

Keywords:

Smartphones, tablets, Chemistry.