GESUS, an Interactive Computer Application for Teaching and Learning the Space Groups of Symmetry

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

In this report, the authors described the design and potential utility of an educational software for teaching the International Tables for Crystallography. The software is design for the students to become familiar with the 2D representation of space groups. The exercises offered in this software provides the students the ability to reflect upon and learn from their mistakes. Student response indicates a positive effect of the software upon their academic performance in crystallography.

 

Overall, the reviewer thinks the convenience and originality of the software warrants the publication of this paper in Educational Sciences. There are a few minor points that need to be fixed:

"both point (proper and improper rotations, including mirroring, inversion, and other rotoinversions) and space (screw axes and glide planes)," It is unclear what "point" and "space" refer to here. Point group elements and space group elements?

"students of crystallography with basic-medium level" It is not clear what is required for the student to be basic-medium level familiar with here.

"teached" should be "taught"

"The GESUS application allows the user to perform two types of exercises. The first one consists of selecting symmetry operators from a menu and placing them in a graphical interface according to the position of the motifs (small black or white circles depending on their handedness as chiral objects) (Figure 1). In the second case, the Hermann-Mauguin notation of the space group instead of the motifs is showed." While the first type of exercise is well-presented with an example, it is not very clear to me what the second type encloses based on the description here. It might be helpful to include an example for the second type of exercise here as well.

 

Author Response

Dear Reviewer #1, first of all, thank you for your comments and corrections. Now, we list some changes we have made based on your comments:

• "both point (proper and improper rotations, including mirroring, inversion, and other rotoinversions) and space (screw axes and glide planes)," It is unclear what "point" and "space" refer to here. Point group elements and space group elements?

Answer: Exactly. We have changed the text, such as: “It teaches how to recognize the operations performed by the symmetry elements, both point (or 2D) operators (proper and improper rotations, including mirroring, inversion and other rotoinversions) and space (or 3D) operators (screw axes and glide planes), and their combinations with the translations of the lattice”.

• "students of crystallography with basic-medium level" It is not clear what is required for the student to be basic-medium level familiar with here.

Answer: True. We have changed the text, such as: “This application constitutes a useful and easy-to-use tool for SGS learning. It is aimed at beginner students of crystallography with elementary knowledge about elements of symmetry, Bravais lattices, crystal classes and wallpaper groups”.

• "teached" should be "taught"

Answer: Done.

• In the second case, the Hermann-Mauguin notation of the space group instead of the motifs is showed." While the first type of exercise is well-presented with an example, it is not very clear to me what the second type encloses based on the description here. It might be helpful to include an example for the second type of exercise here as well.

Answer: You are right. We have modified the Supplementary Material to include the same example resolved by name. Additionally, we have modified the text of the manuscript, such as: “In the second case, the Hermann-Mauguin notation of an SGS is given and the corresponding symmetry operators have to be selected instead of showing the motifs (see Supplementary Materials)”. Lines 88-90.

To improve the quality of the manuscript and follow the recommendations made in the review, the article has been revised by the English language editing service of the editorial office.

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript aims to address a topic that is typically very challenging for students. Topics that require students to visualize chemical structures and apply a concept can be particularly arduous.  Thus, the presented application addresses a pedagogical need.  Using a computer application to help students understand space groups and symmetry is a useful approach.  The program presented here could be potentially very useful to educators.  

 

The article presents a potentially useful educational resource, however, the manuscript could be strengthened by a few additions. The article could be strengthened by having more screenshots of the program and a more detailed description of the user experience. This would enable the reader to have greater appreciation for the interface of the described application. The article should also address if it is specific to an operating system or if it will run on any operating system. Additionally, more details on how the data from the program is either shared or not shared with an instructor and/or stored. Lastly, the article could be strengthened by improving the readability of the manuscript. 

Author Response

Dear Reviewer #2, first of all, thank you for your comments and corrections. Now, we list some changes we have made based on your comments:

• The article presents a potentially useful educational resource, however, the manuscript could be strengthened by a few additions. The article could be strengthened by having more screenshots of the program and a more detailed description of the user experience. This would enable the reader to have greater appreciation for the interface of the described application. The article should also address if it is specific to an operating system or if it will run on any operating system. Additionally, more details on how the data from the program is either shared or not shared with an instructor and/or stored. Lastly, the article could be strengthened by improving the readability of the manuscript.

Answer: We fully agree with your comments, which is why, to enhance the text of our manuscript to make it easier to understand, it has been revised by the English language editing service of the editorial office. You can find much more information on how to use the software and solved examples in the Supplementary Material (enclosed). We also invite you to visit the website created for the software GESUS (https://citius.us.es/gesus/index_en.html).

It has been added in the manuscript which operating system GESUS currently runs, such as: “The GUI was developed using the C++ programming language and is currently for Windows XP and higher versions” (lines 160-161)”.

The philosophy of GESUS is that students can work independently in the resolution of this type of SGS exercise. Therefore, the exercises are self-corrected without the need to be corrected by an instructor. However, GESUS v2.4. allows the user to take a screenshot or image of the exercise as solved and share it with the instructor or any other interested person (<File> -> <Save Image…>).

Together with the English revision, carried out by the editorial office, we believe that we have improved the manuscript to make it easier to understand.

Thank you.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

The application presented in the manuscript appears to be a useful resource for students.  The concepts the program aims to address are typically very challenging for students, thus a readily available tool for educators would be useful to the field of chemical education. 

Author Response

Dear Reviewer #2, first of all, thank you for your comments. Both the manuscript and the Supplementary Material have been revised and improved.