# Showing the Bonds—A Subtle but Important Difference in Figure Design that May Alleviate Student Confusion about ATP Hydrolysis

## TL;DR

A study shows that how ATP hydrolysis is visually presented in diagrams can influence students' understanding of the energy changes in the reaction.

## Contribution

The study introduces a novel approach to figure design that reduces student misconceptions about ATP hydrolysis by emphasizing bond formation.

## Key findings

- Students who viewed bond-breaking diagrams were more likely to incorrectly classify ATP hydrolysis as endergonic.
- Students who saw bond-formation diagrams used more chemically accurate reasoning.
- Figure design significantly impacts student understanding of ATP hydrolysis.

## Abstract

A misconception among biology students is that breaking bonds in adenosine triphosphate (ATP) releases energy. This misconception may be related to imprecise representations of chemical bonding in common diagrams of ATP hydrolysis. We interviewed 33 undergraduate students and randomly assigned them to interpret a figure of ATP hydrolysis that either emphasized bond breaking in the reactants or the formation of new bonds in the products. Students who saw the figure emphasizing bond breaking were more likely to incorrectly classify ATP hydrolysis as endergonic, while students who saw the figure explicitly illustrating bond formation were more likely to use chemically-sound reasoning to describe the reaction.