Molecules at your fingertips at the University of Friborg thanks to a virtual room – rts.ch

Understanding a molecule, understanding its shape and structure in space: this is what the new chemistry classroom at the University of Friborg (UNIFR) allows. For this, the establishment has equipped itself with twenty virtual reality headsets.

“The user can interact and enlarge the structure. We can also observe it from the inside,” explains Ali Çonskun, president of the Department of Chemistry, during a public demonstration.

Make learning easier

Katharina Fromm, rector of the Friborg Alma mater, believes that this new technique is a plus for her university and should make it easier to learn the sector. “We can almost touch the molecule, even if it remains virtual. I have the impression that this third dimension can be better understood than on the blackboard, where it remains in two dimensions,” she declares in the Local Colors show.

For the main stakeholders, the students, the first feedback seems positive. “This is the first time I’ve seen this. It calculates electron densities and allows you to see where there are electron holes, lower or higher densities. I must admit that I’m quite happy”, enthuses a first-year master’s student.

For one of her colleagues, this tool can also “help understand how chemistry evolves in space.”

Live exercises

This technology is also aimed at nursing students. Marine Capallera, doctoral student at the Haute école de santé, demonstrates this: “One of the advantages of virtual reality is that it allows me to see the germs on my hands. If I turn around, I see the patient with little purple dots, which are its germs. The objective is to avoid cross-contamination,” she explains.

In real time, students are connected to a server with a web application, on which they can see whether the different steps are validated or not.

This system can open up to the world by inviting other speakers from different countries to achieve interaction without borders.

Carine Regidor