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This paper presents an analysis of the use of multimedia and hands-on models on university students' understanding of stereochemistry. The relationship between students' scientific reasoning skills and their understanding of stereochemistry was also determined. Two groups of second-year chemistry students from the State University of Malang taking organic chemistry for the 2020/21 academic year participated in this study. One group of students experienced stereochemistry teaching using multimedia models and the other hands-on models as the learning medium. Lawson's Classroom Test of Scientific Reasoning and Short-Answer Stereochemistry Test were applied. The former was deployed to measure students' scientific reasoning skills, while the latter was used to test their understanding of stereochemistry. The results revealed that the students' scientific reasoning skills were significantly below the expected standard, falling in the low category. Students with high scientific reasoning skills exhibited a better understanding of stereochemistry than those with low levels. Both multimedia and hands-on models revealed an equal contribution towards students' understanding of stereochemistry. Also, it suggests that multimedia models tend to favour students with high scientific reasoning skills, while hands-on models favour those with low skills.

This study investigates the efficacy of incorporating neuropedagogical elements into virtual simulators for advanced chemistry education in universities. Utilizing a mixed-method approach, it uses questionnaires completed by 50 organic chemistry students. These questionnaires included both general and Likert scale questions, focusing on students' experiences with the PhET Interactive Simulation. The results highlight the positive impact of neuropedagogy on students' learning attitudes, cognitive abilities, and skill development, particularly in areas like critical thinking, analytical skills, and social competencies. A significant portion of students reported enhanced educational outcomes: 76% observed improved training effectiveness, 88% better understood the subject, and 96% found the virtual simulator-based learning more engaging. Furthermore, the study notes improvements in students' problem-solving abilities (68%), logical reasoning (92%), and comprehension of chemical processes (94%). These findings emphasize the value of integrating neuroscience principles in chemical education, potentially benefiting both tertiary and secondary education sectors. They indicate the necessity for educational adaptation in line with interdisciplinary research in cognitive and neurological sciences. This research not only serves as a valuable resource for chemistry teachers but also sets the stage for future empirical studies exploring neuroscience's role in teacher education. The study underscores the importance of further investigation into how teachers implement neuropedagogical techniques and the effectiveness of such applications, advocating for continuous development in educational methodologies.

Peer review is useful for providing students with formative feedback, yet it is used less frequently in STEM classrooms and for supporting writing-to-learn (WTL). While research indicates the benefits of incorporating peer review into classrooms, less research is focused on students' perceptions thereof. Such research is important as it speaks to the mechanisms whereby peer review can support learning. This study examines students' self-reported approaches to and perceptions of peer review and revision associated with WTL assignments implemented in an organic chemistry course. Students responded to a survey covering how they approached peer review and revision and the benefits they perceived from participating in each. Findings indicate that the assignment materials guided students' approaches during both peer review and revision. Furthermore, students described various ways both receiving feedback from their peers and reading their peers' drafts were beneficial, but primarily connected their revisions to receiving feedback.

A multicomponent reaction was adapted and successfully applied in the major organic course, which involves synthesizing and characterizing a 1,3-benzoxazine derived from paracetamol extracted from tablets of the worldwide well-known medicine Tylenol. Using paracetamol as a reagent is a motivational strategy in undergraduate laboratories to meet the learning goals of training students in solid-liquid extraction and compound characterization by NMR and FTIR and reaction mechanism discussions in the context of a multicomponent reaction. The multifaceted nature of this experiment encourages students to recognize the potential use of everyday materials as chemical reagents, while providing insights into modern chemistry concepts.

The gamification of learning has increased in popularity in recent years as a tool for enhancing student engagement and attainment. In undergraduate chemistry courses, hybridization is a fundamental concept that students need to master in order to understand introductory organic and inorganic topics. This study focused on the development of a card game for use as a revision tool (i.e., a learning resource that can be used by students to engage with a topic they have previously encountered and develop their understanding of the topic in advance of an assessment) based on the topic of hybridization for students taking introductory chemistry courses. The game was designed to both engage students and support their learning. Covering the core concepts of hybridization, including molecular geometry, orbital character, and hybridization states, the speed-based game requires students to answer "question cards" before their opponents by placing down the correct "hybridization card". The game was implemented with chemistry cohorts at the University of Birmingham, United Kingdom, and Xi'an Jiatong-Liverpool University, China. The impact of the game on student learning was evaluated through pre- and postintervention quizzes, as well as a survey based on student impressions of the game play experience. Students responded positively about the game play experiences, and a comparison of quiz scores suggests a positive impact on student understanding of the topic.

A renewed experimental procedure for the unknown carbonyl experiment has been developed using hydrazone synthesis, thin layer chromatography (TLC) analysis, and melting point determination to differentiate between structurally similar ketones and aldehydes in undergraduate organic chemistry practical courses. Benzaldehyde, p-tolualdehyde, acetophenone, and p-methylacetophenone can be differentiated from one another by first forming the respective carbomethoxyhydrazone, followed by confirming the presence of a ketone or an aldehyde moiety in the initial unknown by TLC analysis, and finally, identifying the initial unknown by determining the melting point of the hydrazone and comparing it to literature values. Purification by simple recrystallization yields the pure carbomethoxyhydrazone in high yield, and the reaction and analysis of the product can easily be completed within a single 8-h laboratory class (or within two 4-h sessions). Students not only learn basic synthesis techniques such as refluxing and recrystallization and analysis techniques such as TLC and melting point determination but also are exposed to elements of critical thinking in the need for and use of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in everyday analysis, especially in light of conducting analysis when NMR or other sophisticated instrumentation is not available.

An organic chemistry experiment designed for senior undergraduates focuses on bifunctional catalysis, a critical yet often omitted topic at the undergraduate level, but essential for advanced studies in chemistry. By utilization of a tertiary amine-thiourea catalyst in the asymmetric Michael addition reaction, the experiment showcases the superiority of bifunctional catalysis over traditional monofunctional approaches. Comprehensive training in designing control experiments, performing flash chromatography, and analyzing results with NMR and HPLC techniques equip students with modern synthetic skill sets. This experiment features easy operation and a relatively short time (4.5h, including 2-2.5 h reaction time). More importantly, it bridges the educational gap in understanding advanced catalytic mechanisms and techniques in organic chemistry.

This article describes a novel method for quantifying fixation disparity and evaluates its role in visuospatial cognition during an authentic learning task, specifically, the determination of molecule chirality in organic chemistry involving mental rotation and pattern comparison. The first study examined the influence of molecular model dimensionality (2D vs. 3D) on chirality determination performance and visual attention of 55 participants. The second study explored how the sustained playing of the tile-matching game Mahjong, a pattern comparison game, can affect visual attention and visuospatial performance during the chirality determination task of 59 participants. Fixation disparity was one of the eye tracking variables explored. Both studies revealed that (1) individuals with higher fixation disparity underperformed on the chirality task, which involves mental rotation and pattern comparison, and (2) fixation disparity improved over time in participants who played Mahjong. This work provides important implications for using fixation disparity as a possible biomarker of visuospatial performance.

Institutions of higher education are seeking to support more active learning among faculty, and that support includes the creation of active learning spaces to support more student-centered course activities. However, incremental development of these learning spaces leads to a sorting of students between active and passive learning environments. This study collected repeat-measure data from undergraduate students enrolled in a two-semester course sequence to evaluate factors affecting student enrollment decisions and student attitudes toward learning. We integrated this combination of research tools using a QuantCrit analytic framework, which revealed student attitudes and decision-making processes that were generally stable over the study period for individuals, but very different when examining student enrollment groups over time. Limited access to active learning classrooms forced students to self-sort based on either their social networks or their attitudes toward learning. That, in turn, may create a marginalizing force that pushes out some students--most often women--from undergraduate programs.

Some research works have showed that Ghanaian teachers, teaching chemistry in the senior high school, have conceptual difficulties in organic chemistry. This research explored the factors contributing to teacher's conceptual difficulties on teaching organic chemistry to high school students. Through explanatory sequential mixed methods design quantitative data were collected using questionnaire and qualitative data, using semi-structured interviews. The questionnaire was responded to by 71 teachers teaching chemistry in 31 schools, and six teachers, purposively selected, interacted with researchers through interviews to triangulate any quantitative findings. From the quantitative data, four factors, tertiary exposure, professional collaboration, professional competence, and pre-tertiary exposure emerged. These factors were then used as themes to guide the analysis and presentation of results from the qualitative data. To inform further research, it is recommended that chemistry educators and researchers should examine the four factors that predict most of the teacher conceptual difficulties on organic chemistry.

Undergraduate organic chemistry courses have a reputation for being difficult among students in biological and physical sciences programs. Due to the extensive problem-solving, visualization, and depiction of chemical structures/reactions required, students may perceive learning such content as similar to learning a new language. Several interventions such as course-integrated tutorials or discussion sessions have aimed to assist students. Another effective approach that chemistry educators might consider is Supplemental Instruction (SI), a well-established program that emphasizes student-driven learning whereby student SI leaders facilitate discussions to help students arrive at solutions while also developing effective communication and study skills. A type of SI, Facilitated Study Groups (FSG), established by the Centre for Teaching and Learning at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) in 2009, were introduced regularly into organic chemistry courses in 2012. This program provides semester-long optional small-group peer learning sessions, each of which corresponds to a course lecture. The aim of this paper is to provide comprehensive coverage detailing the structure of the organic chemistry FSG program, peer facilitation strategies employed, quantitative/qualitative synthesis of student outcomes indicating program uptake. We consistently find significantly higher grades and significantly lower attrition rates for students who regularly attend FSG sessions in comparison to those who do not (n=16 semesters). Given the growing diversity of undergraduate classes in terms of approaches to learning, language, and cultural barriers (international students, English second-language learners, learning and psychosocial disabilities), our FSG sessions seek to foster inclusion amongst our heterogeneous pool of attendees. Here, we describe strategies that tailored FSG sessions to a diverse group of undergraduate students as suggested by a sizable percentage of the class availing themselves of this resource and by a narrative synthesis of end-of-term surveys. Together, we demonstrate successful adoption of an SI-based model for organic chemistry and present a practical framework that includes pedagogically informed session strategies and cost estimates to guide design of similar programs for post-secondary students at other institutions.

This study tackles self-regulated learning from the motivation component, considering that not only the 'skills' but also the 'will' dimensions are essential for the development of self-regulated learning. The aim of the study is to promote pre-service chemistry teachers' motivation and to enhance their knowledge of motivational regulation strategies. The study was conducted in organic chemistry courses with 18 pre-service chemistry teachers. A semi-structured interview, a semi-structured diary, and an open-ended scale were employed as data collection tools to identify motivational components and motivational regulation strategies used by the pre-service teachers. The qualitative data collected were analyzed using descriptive and content analysis techniques. Results showed that the pre-service chemistry teachers had positive motivational beliefs and were more persistent about academic activities. Moreover, improvements occurred in pre-service teachers' motivational regulation strategies. It was further found that the positive change in the pre-service chemistry teachers' motivations diversified their learning strategies and that they began to use these strategies more frequently.

This research studied the impact of integrating virtual laboratories in chemistry lessons among 22 pre-service teachers who were enrolled in a Bachelor of Education program, focusing on middle and high school science. These participants were systematically divided into an experimental group (EG) and a control group. Both groups engaged in the same organic chemistry lesson and subsequent lab session, the only difference being that EG received additional training via a virtual laboratory prior to the hands-on lab session. A survey, conducted both before and after the experiment, was utilized to measure participants' attitudes towards the use of virtual laboratories. The quantitative data analysis revealed a significant positive shift in EG's attitudes post-intervention, suggesting that virtual laboratory experiences enhance their learning and engagement. Specifically, participants exhibited improved understanding of the educational methodologies and heightened engagement during the physical lab work. However, no significant differences were observed between the two groups concerning the technical aspects of the experiments, implying that the virtual labs' impact on perspectives about the technical components of a chemistry lab was consistent across both groups. These findings support the view of virtual laboratories as a viable supporting tool for science education, promoting technology integration into teaching practices to meet the demands of 21st century learning outcomes. This research concludes with recommendations for future studies to explore further the implications of virtual labs on various aspects of science education.

This study investigated Chemistry students' performance and retention (knowledge and understanding, knowledge and application, perception and attitude) in Organic Chemistry in three Senior High Schools (SHSs) within Tamale Metropolis in Ghana. Collaborative learning models were employed as intervention strategies. Quasi-experimental design was adopted for the study. The target population for the study was third year SHS Chemistry students. Two intact classes were used as control and experimental groups in each school. The research instruments were self-constructed Organic Chemistry Achievement Test (OCAT) and Students' Attitude and Perception Questionnaire (SAPQ). The Organic Chemistry Achievement Test data was analysed using t-test statistics whilst Students' Attitude and Perception Questionnaire data was analysed using descriptive statistics. The study revealed a 34.04% improvement in post-test mean scores on both knowledge and understanding, and knowledge and application due to the intervention. The study again revealed a significant improvement of (20%) in students' perceptions and attitudes towards Organic Chemistry due to the intervention. A statistically significant improvement of 25% in confidence level among students, towards Organic Chemistry, was recorded. Collaborative teaching and learning approaches were judged effective for ameliorating SHS learners, academic achievement and knowledge retention in Organic Chemistry concepts and were recommended for teaching and learning at SHS.

Despite representations' central role in conveying chemical phenomena, mastering them is not trivial, given the wide variety of different conventions to interpret and use them. Furthermore, instructional approaches and materials may overlook explicit discussion on how students should reason with representations. To gather evidence that could guide improvements in teaching strategies and the creation of more effective instructional materials, we explored how students use Lewis structures to make inferences about stability. Through interviews with twenty-eight organic chemistry students, we have captured a range of resources that they employed, including the features of Lewis structures they paid attention to, the conceptual resources they activated, and the sophistication of their explanations. We found that students referenced all the explicit features of the provided Lewis structures but primarily attributed stability to the unique eye-catching features of each representation. Importantly, the surface features to which students attended impacted the conceptual resources they activated and their reasoning. Specifically, some students misapplied chemical principles to make justifications that fit their correct or incorrect claims about stability. Moreover, students primarily relied on lower-level reasoning and heuristics when constructing explanations. These findings underscore the importance of probing student reasoning so that instruction and assessments can be tailored to enhance students' ability to effectively use representations to reason about chemical phenomena. By understanding the reasoning patterns students adopt, educators can develop targeted strategies that promote deeper understanding and productive use of chemical representations.

Two generative approaches to reaction mechanism instruction for novice students were compared to lecture instruction. In both approaches, students were coached to propose selected reaction mechanisms based on prior knowledge. New instructional methods were correlated with increased skill in representations of electron movements and other gains. Students who saw a larger amount of new pedagogy showed stronger abilities to propose mechanisms for unfamiliar reactions. In the group that saw a larger amount of new pedagogy, first-generation college student (FGS) grades rose to match non-FGS grades. Learning gains were interpreted with respect to cognitive load theory, flagging high element interactivity as a likely obstacle for novice students. Problem solving during mechanism instruction for novice students offers the potential to improve learning outcomes.

Student self-assessment surveys were utilized to look at student study habits in several areas. Both self-reported study time and study methods were explored. Surveys were given to students after they received their graded exams. In a comparison with the federal definition for a credit hour (2 hours outside of class for each hour spent in class), it was found that most students study less than the minimum recommended study time. Little difference in reported study hours was seen between high-performing students and low-performing students (who reported the highest amount of study time). When broken into methods of study, higher-performing students reported higher percentages of time in active study methods (e.g., attempting practice problems), while lower-performing students spent more time in more passive study methods (e.g., reviewing lecture notes). Additionally, students were asked to analyze why they lost points on examinations in a number of different categories. Lower-performing students were able to recognize the reasons for their performance (attributing much of their performance to reasons such as not understanding terms or concepts) but were not able to use it to improve future performance.

Background: Science teaching and learning, as discursive practices, occur through the utilization of various semiotic modes. Gestures play a pivotal role as an embodied mode that acts in conjunction with speech in oral communication settings, such as classrooms. Previous research on gestures in chemistry and science education has illuminated how interactions involving different types of gestures can enhance learning opportunities for students. However, the investigation of recurrent gestures and their potential function as emblems in classroom discourse remains unexplored. Purpose: The objective of this article is to illustrate how catchments or recurrent gestures were constructed, used, and, to some extent, evolved into emblems within the interaction between an organic chemistry teacher and her students throughout an entire semester. Sample, design and methods: For the duration of an entire semester, we non-intrusively observed and recorded video footage of one class from an introductory organic chemistry course taught by an experienced university teacher. Our analysis to identify recurrent gestures involved a thorough examination of the lesson recordings. In addition, we scrutinized other semiotic modes that coincided with the recurrent gestures and assessed the metafunction of the words spoken during gesturing. Results: During our observation, we noted the occurrence of 23 catchments, with four of them recurring more than 100 times throughout the semester. These four recurrent gestures were closely tied to fundamental concepts considered crucial in the realm of organic chemistry. Remarkably, three out of these four catchments were consistently associated with visual representations. Conclusion: Recurrent gestures serve as a means to embody and impart materiality to exceedingly abstract content. By employing such gestures, the teacher managed to associate unfamiliar and abstract domains with familiar and concrete domains. This process of materialization and embodiment aids in perceiving these concepts as tangible entities that can be manipulated in accordance with their own rules.

Organic chemistry, also known as stereochemistry, is a subject considered to be notably complex for students to understand. Knowledge construction in stereochemistry might demand the ability to imagine or visualise the distribution of atoms. For students with insufficient spatial ability, this could be confusing. This study aimed to explore empirically students and teachers' experiences regarding the opportunities and challenges they encountered when using virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies to teach and learn stereochemistry, as well as how these technologies might support students' spatial ability and 21st-century skills in K-12 education by participating in virtual lab environments. Using design-based research methods, an exploratory study based on the utilization of immersive technologies was designed and carried out with three groups in Grade 8. Two researchers observed the activities that were implemented, after which the participating students answered a qualitative survey about how these technologies and the specific teaching design might support their understanding of molecules in 3D space. The schoolteacher was interviewed afterwards, and she shared her motives and goals (e.g., what she sought to achieve) by using the technologies in her teaching. The results show that the students had a positive experience in their learning of chemistry through immersive realities, increased motivation to learn the subject, and their test results improved slightly. However, it is essential for a teacher to possess technological know-how regarding VR and AR to achieve the intended goals. The findings highlight the added value of these immersive technologies by enhancing students' learning processes and the central role of the teacher as a designer and technological leader of the group.

Resonance is a crucial concept in Organic Chemistry that enables both deriving chemical properties from molecular structures and predicting reactions by considering electron density distribution. Despite its importance for problem-solving and learning success, learners encounter various difficulties with this concept. Although prior research suggests that learners struggle to reason about resonance in problem-solving tasks, existing studies are often limited to singular contexts. Given that task approaches and reasoning are context-dependent, little is known about how learners use resonance across task contexts and which characteristics underlie productive concept use. To this end, a qualitative interview study was conducted, in which undergraduate chemistry students (N = 21), all beginners of Organic Chemistry, solved three organic case comparison tasks requiring the consideration of resonance. Through the analytical lens of the coordination class theory, we analysed the extent to which students used their representations of resonance structures, their task approaches, and the variety of resonance-related resource activation and connection in problem-solving across three different contexts. The results show that students' use of resonance is diverse across the contexts. It can be characterized by a complex interplay of multiple factors reflecting the multifold processes when considering resonance. However, some essential characteristics of productive concept use in problem-solving (e.g., the activation of resources across different granularity levels) could be deduced. Implications for supporting learners' use of resonance in problem-solving are discussed.

Recent efforts in organic chemistry education research focus on investigating activities and strategies designed to elicit students' mechanistic reasoning. This study investigates how a scaffolded case comparison activity implemented in an introductory organic chemistry course elicits and supports students' mechanistic reasoning in an authentic classroom setting. The activity included an adaptation of a previously reported reasoning scaffold to support small-group student discussions comparing organic reactions. We analyzed students' written responses to the in-class activity using Hammer's resources framework and Toulmin's argumentation model, interwoven to create an anti-deficit approach to exploring students' developing reasoning. The analysis of students' written artifacts sought to identify ways in which a scaffolded case comparison implemented in a collaborative class setting may support students' engagement in complex reasoning and argumentation development. We found that the in-class activity elicited students' writing about various aspects of mechanistic reasoning, including identifying explicit and implicit properties, dynamic reasoning, and multivariate reasoning. These findings indicate that the activity can engage students in complex mechanistic reasoning aspects in the classroom setting. Furthermore, this study extends the literature by detailing the nuances of students' developing causal reasoning with energetic and electrostatic accounts as shown in their writing. The results highlight students' emerging causal reasoning with varying levels of complexity and conceptual integration. This study provides direct implications for instructors seeking to implement similar classroom activities. The findings indicate directions for future research on the development of instructional activities and tools that further support students' developing causal reasoning, such as adapting existing scaffolding structures to support argumentation development and the integration of challenging concepts such as energetics.

Research on student learning in organic chemistry indicates that students tend to focus on surface level features of molecules with less consideration of implicit properties when engaging in mechanistic reasoning. Writing-to-learn (WTL) is one approach for supporting students' mechanistic reasoning. A variation of WTL incorporates peer review and revision to provide opportunities for students to interact with and learn from their peers, as well as revisit and reflect on their own knowledge and reasoning. However, research indicates that the rhetorical features included in WTL assignments may influence the language students use in their responses. This study utilizes machine learning to characterize the mechanistic features present in second-semester undergraduate organic chemistry students' responses to two versions of a WTL assignment with different rhetorical features. Furthermore, we examine the role of peer review on the mechanistic reasoning captured in students' revised drafts. Our analysis indicates that students include both surface level and implicit features of mechanistic reasoning in their drafts and in the feedback to their peers, with slight differences depending on the rhetorical features present in the assignment. However, students' revisions appeared to be primarily connected to the peer review process "via" the presence of surface features in the drafts students read (as opposed to the feedback received). These findings indicate that further scaffolding focused on how to utilize information gained from the peer review process (i.e., both feedback received and drafts read) and emphasizing implicit properties could help support the utility of WTL for developing students' mechanistic reasoning in organic chemistry.

Though attitude has been linked to student performance in general chemistry, it is under-researched with relation to organic chemistry. The previous research that has been conducted on students' attitudes towards organic chemistry has primarily occurred via quantitative approaches, with a current lack of qualitative approaches used to give robust insight into student experiences in organic chemistry. This work, a longitudinal study, builds on a previous qualitative study which investigated students' attitudes using the Attitude Toward Organic Chemistry (ATOC) instrument. The aim of this study is to investigate how students' attitudes towards organic chemistry change over time throughout the organic chemistry course sequence. Findings from two cohorts demonstrate that both students' attitudes and the influences on those attitudes change over time in the course.

Resonance is a fundamental chemistry concept first introduced to students in General Chemistry I (GCI), reintroduced in Organic Chemistry I (OCI), and then utilized throughout other higher-level chemistry courses. Student difficulties with resonance are well documented. Instruction is one potential source of student difficulties. What instructors choose to expose students to and how they choose to expose students to concepts related to resonance is influenced by instructors' intentions for learning. As a first step in understanding and addressing the difficulties students encounter when learning about resonance, we qualitatively examined what instructors intend for their students to understand about and do with resonance in the courses in which it is first introduced, GCI and OCI. The instructors we interviewed identified eleven critical features of resonance that they deemed important for students to learn about. We found that GCI and OCI instructors in this study identified many of the same critical features of resonance. However, there were differences in what they expected students to know about and do with those critical features. GCI and OCI instructors also identified critical features unique to their courses. Overall, while discussing the critical features, the instructors tended to emphasize an operational "versus" conceptual understanding of resonance, which may partially explain students' focus on "using" resonance instead of understanding it, as has been reported previously in the literature. The instructor-identified critical features presented herein have important implications for teaching and learning, as instructors' perceptions determine what they expose their students to during instruction and ultimately influence what students have the possibility to learn about resonance.

Appealing to students' affect in academic settings, such as demonstrating chemistry's relevance to their life, is one strategy instructors may use to support students' in learning. This study investigates the types of connections that students make to organic chemistry when responding to an open-ended writing assignment. Students enrolled in an introductory level organic chemistry course were asked to choose and write about an organic molecule they felt was important to their life, in doing so students wrote about the molecule's relevance to their life. Analysis of the writing was supported by semi-structured interviews with a subset of the students in which they discussed their approach to completing the assigment. Conclusions from this study suggest that students successfully made connections between their chosen molecule and their life. Considered through the lens of relevance, students can both seek and find relevance in organic chemistry topics on a personal, societal, or vocational level; and therefore may reinforce their comprehension and appreciation of chemistry.

This study aimed to analyze second-semester organic chemistry students' problem-solving strategies, specifically focusing on the resources activated while solving problems on E2, E1, and E1cB elimination reactions. Using the theoretical framework by Elby and Hammer, we defined a resource as a unit of information used in the problem-solving process. The resources activated to solve elimination reaction problems were probed using a mixed-methods approach using survey assessments and think-aloud interviews. The data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively following a validated set of scoring criteria. The results align with existing findings that students focus on surface-level structural information and use resources that have been repetitively emphasized over multiple semesters. Resources related to acid-base chemistry were activated more often than reaction-specific resources, such as conformational analyses or carbocation rearrangements. Although acid-base resources aid students in successfully analyzing reaction mechanisms, additional resources must be activated to rationalize specific mechanisms and to explain the products formed. This calls for instructors to provide formative and summative assessments that evaluate the many resources required to elucidate elimination reaction mechanisms and product stereochemistry.

Education in organic chemistry is highly reliant on molecular representations. Students abstract information from representations to make sense of submicroscopic interactions. This study investigates relationships between differing representations: bond-line structures, ball-and-stick, or electrostatic potential maps (EPMs), and predicting partial charges, nucleophiles, and electrophiles. The study makes use of students' answers in hot-spot question format, where they select partially charged atoms on the image of a molecule and explanations. Analysis showed no significant difference among students when predicting a partially positive atom with each representation; however, more students with EPMs were able to correctly predict the partially negative atom. No difference was observed across representations in students predicting electrophilic character; while representations did influence students identifying nucleophilic character. The affordance of EPMs was that they cued more students to cite relative electronegativity indicating that such students were able to recognize the cause for electron rich/poor areas. This recognition is central to rationalizing mechanisms in organic chemistry. This study offers implications on incorporating EPMs during instruction and provides evidence-based support in how EPMs could be useful in promoting learning on topics that relate to an uneven charge distribution.

A national survey on chemistry instructional laboratories was administered to faculty members at four-year postsecondary institutions in the United States for the purpose of exploring levels of inquiry-based instruction implemented in laboratory courses. Respondents were asked to rate the level of choice their students had in deciding six key characteristics of the experiments used in their course ("e.g.", what research questions to explore); the more choices students get to make, the more inquiry-based instructional experience. MANOVA and "post hoc" analyses suggest that there are differences in the level of inquiry across chemistry course levels; lower-level courses ("i.e.", general chemistry and organic chemistry) implement lower levels of inquiry-based laboratory instruction compared to upper-level courses ("i.e." more chemistry major-focused courses). We found no evidence of association between the level of inquiry courses and institutions' highest chemistry degree awarded, American Chemical Society approval to award certified bachelors degrees, or external funding to transform postsecondary chemistry courses. Our study contributes to the chemical education community's growing understanding of the state of postsecondary chemistry laboratory instruction. Results further suggest that there is an opportunity for faculty members and department leaders to reflect on their instructional laboratory courses and implement more inquiry-based instructional laboratory experiences across the entirety of the postsecondary chemistry curriculum.

Asking students to explain why phenomena occur at a molecular level is vital to increasing their understanding of chemistry concepts. One way to elicit students' mechanistic reasoning and guide construction of knowledge is through Writing-to-Learn (WTL), which is a promising approach for students in organic chemistry courses. In the design of WTL assignments, rhetorical aspects provide an authentic context by designating a role, genre, and audience for students. This context can support students' learning, but, if the rhetorical aspects misalign with the learning objectives of the assignment, they can hinder students' ability to achieve these objectives. In this project, we designed a WTL assignment about a base-free Wittig reaction, which we implemented in an organic chemistry laboratory course. Here, we explore how changes in the rhetorical aspects of this assignment can influence the way students explain two different comparisons of reaction mechanisms. We consider how students use explicit and implicit properties and how the use of these features compares within the context of the reaction. Results indicate that, when the rhetorical aspects align with the learning objectives of the assignment, students provide more productive elaborations that use both explicit and implicit properties. This is supported by both the analysis of students' writing and students' feedback about the assignments.

Formative assessment supports teachers in recognizing students' learning strengths and shortcomings and enhancing teaching and learning approaches. The current study aims to examine the impact of digital-based formative assessment on students' learning of organic chemistry. In this study, a mixed research strategy was used. Students in senior five (year five secondary school level, or advanced secondary level) who study in a combination with chemistry as one of the major subjects were targeted. And their ages were ranging from 16 to 18. The sample size was 50 Participants, comprising 40 students and 10 chemistry teachers from Rwanda's Nyarugenge District who was picked at random. The qualitative data were gathered through interviews and analyzed using discourse and interpretive analysis approaches. During discourse analysis, the various ways in which students conversed were systematized in order to sort visible perceptions and initial points based on their understanding, and meanings were generated at a specific chronological moment. Students' experiences and perceptions of using digital-based formative assessment, as well as the associated challenges, were investigated and recorded while conducting interpretive analysis. While quantitative data were collected by administering achievement tests (pre- and post-test) and questionnaires to students, descriptive statistics were utilized to analyze them using a Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). According to the findings of this study, there was a statistical difference in student performance between pre-and post-test. It was also discovered that students were happy with the usage of digital-based formative assessment, which enhanced their unique learning and increased students' information retention. The students expressed enthusiasm about learning organic chemistry. Teachers noted that they could send the assessment to students at any time and that students received timely formative feedback. Teachers were able to determine students' learning strengths and weaknesses. It was suggested that chemistry professors use digital-based formative assessments in organic chemistry to help students understand the subject. A slow internet connection and a lack of computers were among the difficulties noted.

Organic qualitative analysis is one of the challenging chemical concepts in students learning of chemistry. The West African Examinations Council chemistry chief examiners for years, have lamented on students' poor performance in organic qualitative analysis at the senior high school level. This study, therefore, investigated chemistry students' conceptual understanding of organic qualitative analysis. Convergent mixed methods procedure was used to collect both quantitative and qualitative data from 263 chemistry students. The 263 students were selected through multistage sampling technique to respond to organic qualitative analysis diagnostic test for students. Quantitative data was analyzed using percentages, means, and standard deviations to determine students' level of conceptual understanding on organic qualitative analysis. The results from the study showed that, students demonstrated no scientific understanding on organic qualitative analysis. The qualitative data was open-coded and constantly compared to establish students' conceptual difficulties on organic qualitative analysis. Students demonstrated conceptual difficulties were in the form of alternative conceptions and factual difficulties. It was, therefore, recommended that chemistry teachers should select and use appropriate conceptual change instruction approaches in their teaching to help students conceptualize organic qualitative analysis contents in organic chemistry.

Chemical tests (qualitative analysis) on functional groups may improve students' understanding of basic concepts about the structure of organic compounds and their reactivity. However, upper-secondary school students have difficulties in learning organic qualitative analysis. This research has studied whether the gender of students and school-type affect development of experimental reasoning on organic qualitative analysis. From three school-types, 50.2% males and 49.8% females were sampled through a multistage sampling procedure and participated in a cross-sectional survey. Data from 263 students were collected with the aid of diagnostic test on knowledge of organic qualitative analysis. A two-way between-groups ANOVA and independentsamples t-test were used to analyse the data. It was found no interaction effect of gender and school-type on students' development of experimental reasoning on organic qualitative analysis.

Situational simulation teaching method (SST mentioned below) is a mature teaching method that has been applied. It has been widely used in foreign language, law, management, clinical and other fields, and has been proved to have good teaching effect. The quality of teachers is the key to improve the international competitiveness of China's education system. With the growth of China's population and the reform and development of education, the training of pre-service teachers has become a public concern. According to the existing research, most of the pre-service teachers have good academic and moral qualities, but there are still deficiencies in teaching ability, management ability and communication ability. In view of this phenomenon, this paper puts forward a scheme of training chemistry pre-service teachers by using SST method through the way of organic chemistry teaching reform. The results show that SST method can improve students' learning quality and cultivate students' comprehensive abilities (including pre-service teachers' professional skills).

This study aimed to investigate the use of formative assessment rubrics for supporting the learning of organic chemistry in secondary schools in Rwanda. A mixed research approach was used to collect and analyze data. The target population was 210 senior five chemistry students and 15 chemistry teachers. However, 140 senior five chemistry students and 10 senior five chemistry teachers were purposively selected to participate in the study. The qualitative data were obtained from the interview while quantitative data were obtained from the survey questionnaire. The qualitative data were analyzed by discourse and interpretive approaches while quantitative data were checked by descriptive statistics. The results of this study showed that from rubric formative assessment, students understood instructors' expectations and encouraged individual learning. The students' knowledge retention was also increased. The instructors mentioned that they were able to grade the students' tasks fast with the help of an analytic rubric and good formative feedback was availed to students on time. The students were satisfied with the use of the formative assessment rubric and they affirmed that they were motivated and engaged in learning organic chemistry. It was recommended that chemistry teachers should use rubrics during formative assessment in organic chemistry.

The study diagnosed chemistry teacher trainees' difficulties in naming and writing structures of spiro and bicyclic compounds. The case study design was conducted in a constructivist environment to enhance chemistry teacher trainees' ability to construct, represent, and interpret the structural formulae of spiro and bicyclic compounds. Purposive sampling technique was employed to select 126 1st-year chemistry teacher trainees from University of Education, Winneba for the study. The results revealed that chemistry teacher trainees had difficulties in naming and writing structural formulae of spiro and bicyclic compounds. However, through the effective use of molecular model kits in teaching naming and writing structures of spiro and bicyclic compounds, these chemistry teacher trainees became conscious of IUPAC rules for naming and writing spiro and other cyclic compounds. At-test conducted indicated that a statistical significance difference existed between students' performance before the implementation of the intervention and after the intervention. It is recommended that chemistry teachers should adopt the use of molecular model kits in teaching concepts of organic nomenclature.

The aim of this study is to investigate the results of the flipped classroom model, which was prepared and applied in collaboration with colleagues, on the academic success on stereochemistry one of the topic the organic chemistry course of pre-service chemistry teachers, the views of the pre-service chemistry teachers about the flipped classroom model and the views of the collaborating faculty member about the practice. The study was designed and carried out according to the participatory action research method. Seventeen pre-service chemistry teachers participated in the study. In the study, short videos were shot in which the instructor of the course explained the lessons and the researcher provided pedagogical and technical support in order to carry out the stereochemistry lesson with the flipped classroom model. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected. The quantitative, which was collected with data the achievement test, was analyzed with the non-parametric Wilcoxon Test. The qualitative data were analyzed with the content analysis method. Quantitative results showed that there was a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test achievement scores in favor of the post-test. As a result of the qualitative content analysis, it was determined that the pre-service teachers had positive views toward flipped classroom such as support learning, solving plenty of questions, watching the videos as often as desired, and being prepared for the lesson. The instructor who conducted the course also stated that he had positive thoughts about using the same method in his lessons and sharing the course material on online platforms.

This study measures the effect of productive failure instruction in a digital inquiry environment on developing deep understanding and achievement of organic chemistry among Saudi Arabian secondary school students. The study adopted the experimental design of control and experimental groups with pre- and post-measurements. The sample comprised 66 secondary school students from Wadi Al-Dawasir Governorate, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, distributed into the experimental group (n = 32) and the control group (n = 34). The data collection utilised the deep understanding test and the achievement test of organic chemistry. The results revealed that there were statistically significant differences at [alpha] = 0.05 between the means of the scores of the experimental and control groups in the deep understanding level and the achievement test of organic chemistry in favour of the experimental group. Recommendations and suggestions are also presented in light of the study results.

One of the challenges that science teachers face is the lack of strategy/method to train students in data collection and developing analytical skills, which are pre-requisites to resolve socio-scientific problems and an important element in scientific literacy. In this activity, the SWOT analysis proposed by the Stanford Research Institute in the United States is modified and carried out in a class of university students to teach them how to analyse data and make decisions in the context of socio-scientific issues related to the use of parabens and triclosan, which are chemicals with potential adverse effects that are widely used in everyday products. The participants consist of 31 students, who are enrolled in the environmental and analytical chemistry programme at Universiti Malaysia Terengganu in Malaysia. Data is gathered from the essays submitted by the students to the course coordinator at week seven of their lessons. The findings show that students have positive response towards the implemented activity. After weighing all strength, weakness, opportunity and threat attributes, most students seem to support the use of those chemicals despite their risks and implications to health and the environment, albeit with greater awareness and prudence. This SWOT activity may potentially be used as an alternative instructional tool to promote discussion and resolution of socio-scientific issues in the classroom.

The purpose of the study was to determine the perceptions that senior high school (SHS) chemistry students, and teachers have about organic chemistry as well as to compare organic chemistry topics that are difficult for students and teachers. Simple random sampling (lottery) and purposive sampling methods were used to select a sample of 100 SHS students who studied elective chemistry and ten chemistry teachers. The research instruments used to collect data for this study were the "organic chemistry perceptions questionnaire for students" and "organic chemistry perceptions questionnaire for teachers." Descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages) were used to analyze the data collected. The findings revealed that these SHS students have a fairly positive perception of organic chemistry while their teachers had a highly positive perception of organic chemistry. Preparation and chemical reactions of alkenes, preparation and chemical reactions of alkynes, structure and stability of benzene, reactions of benzene, comparison of reactions of benzene and alkenes, petroleum, polymers and naming of alkanes, and structural isomerism were perceived by students as difficult to understand. The rest of the Ghanaian SHS organic chemistry topics (26 out of 34 topics) were perceived as easy to understand by students. Furthermore, the teachers perceived all the SHS organic chemistry topics as easy to teach with the exception of reactions of benzene. The insights gained about teachers' and students' perceived difficult organic chemistry topics in this study imply that teachers' perceptions and how these are communicated to students can have significant effects on learning. The authors believe that both teachers and learners could benefit from this increased awareness of perceptions about difficulties in teaching and learning organic chemistry. They therefore suggest that further studies into how teachers' perceptions influence their teaching and consequently their students' experiences are carried out. In addition, in future research, a diagnostic test based on the topics in the SHS organic chemistry syllabus could be added to ascertain whether the perceived difficult topics are actually difficult for students to answer questions on. This would help teachers to separate perceived difficulties from the actual difficulties (realities) and be able to address them in their lessons.

The focus of this study was to find out the effectiveness of the jigsaw model on improving pre-service teachers' performance in selected functional group organic compounds. The study employed the quasi-experimental non-randomized pre-test/post-test intact class design. The sample was 144 pre-service teachers comprising 72 in the experimental class and 72 in the control class. The jigsaw model was implemented in the experimental class while the conventional teaching method was implemented in the control class. The "Organic Chemistry Concept Achievement Test" was used as the research instrument to collect the data. The instrument was pilot tested, and the reliability index was found to be 0.724. The findings of the study revealed that the jigsaw model was effective in yielding significantly better performance in the selected functional group organic compounds among the pre-service teachers in the experimental group than their counterparts in the control group who were taught through the conventional method. It was found that the jigsaw model laid a good foundation for the pre-service teachers to develop problem-solving skills and creative minds leading to their improved performance in the selected functional group organic compounds.

The relevance of the research in this article is conditioned upon the problems of introducing environment-oriented education in the field of chemical discipline for the development of an important component of the information part of this science among students, based on its application in the framework of restoration and conservation of ecology. The purpose of the article is to develop a model of ecologization of the organic chemistry course for the development of knowledge in the discipline with the establishment of ecological culture. The leading method to study this problem is a combination of the Schwartz value questionnaire to determine the level of personal manifestations in the field of various behavioural reactions and decision-making, based on value motivational aspirations, which will affect social life and many of its components. The article presents the developed model of ecologization of the course of study within the framework of organic chemistry, which allows students to form an ecological culture and present the information part in the form of special knowledge based on the selective structure, which carries the factor of restoration and preservation of ecology.

Problem solving is a key component of authentic scientific research and practice in organic chemistry. One factor that has been shown to have a major role in successful problem solving in a variety of disciplines is metacognitive regulation, defined as the control of one's thought processes through the use of planning, monitoring, and evaluation strategies. Despite the growing interest in assessing and promoting metacognition in the field of chemical education, few studies have investigated this topic in the context of organic chemistry students. To gain a deeper understanding of how and why students make use of strategies related to metacognitive regulation in their approaches to solving problems, we conducted interviews with Organic Chemistry I, Organic Chemistry II, and graduate organic chemistry students and used multiple measures to examine students' metacognition. As a part of these interviews, students verbalized their thoughts as they worked on complex predict-the-product problems and completed a self-report instrument indicating which planning, monitoring, and evaluation strategies they had used while completing each problem. Think-aloud protocols were analyzed for the presence of each of the behaviors included on the self-report instrument, and students' use of metacognitive strategies was compared to identify differences between students with different levels of experience and between students who generated more and less successful solutions to the problems. Students who generated more successful solutions to the problems tended to report using a greater number of metacognitive strategies. When asked why they did or did not use certain metacognitive strategies, students indicated a number of factors, such as not feeling able to use these strategies effectively or believing that using these strategies was unnecessary. The results of this study support the importance of teaching metacognitive problem-solving strategies in organic chemistry courses and suggest several methods for the assessment and instruction of metacognition.

Students are known to have various difficulties in dealing with organic reaction mechanisms. A systematic classification of these difficulties appears necessary to design appropriate support. This paper presents insights into whether and how Bloom's revised taxonomy can be used to classify student difficulties in dealing with organic reaction mechanisms. We conducted an interview study with 12 undergraduate chemistry students using problem-solving tasks on nucleophilic substitution and elimination reactions to provide examples to test the classification. In our attempt at systemization, student difficulties are perceived as unachieved learning objectives. The classification reveals that student difficulties pertain to different cognitive process and knowledge dimensions. Specific major difficulties occurred within each cell of Bloom's revised taxonomy and for individual students. Our analysis suggests that general support for dealing with reaction mechanisms might be less beneficial for some students and that more adapted support is needed. Our approach of using Bloom's revised taxonomy to classify student difficulties might also benefit other domains to better understand student difficulties and evaluate appropriate support.

Some students could not learn organic chemistry because of the difficulty of its submicroscopic nature. In this study, it was aimed to determine the effect of argumentation-based organic chemistry teaching on high school students' argument construction skills so on their meaningful concept learning. The study was conducted on 14 high school students at a vocational high school in Turkey on organic chemistry topics through 28 hours period based on the case study. The teaching guide's worksheets and students' observation notes were used as data collection tools. Through the application process, the students criticized each of the seven submicroscopic nature of organic chemistry concepts' paintings in big group discussions, then constructed their own arguments. Then the students evaluated the whole process. Content analysis was employed for the data analysis. Argumentation making students criticize the submicroscopic nature of organic chemistry resulted in a qualified student-constructed argument by making them understand the submicroscopic nature so become critical thinkers. Students' process evaluation also underlined that the process made students joyful, motivated, creative, criticizer, and meaningful learners with a differently constructed learning environment. For further studies, different argumentation-based organic chemistry teaching environments could be offered.

A deep understanding of organic chemistry requires a learner to understand many concepts and have fluency with multiple skills. This understanding is particularly necessary for constructing and using mechanisms to explain chemical reactions. Electrophilicity and nucleophilicity are two fundamental concepts to learning and understanding reaction mechanisms. Prior research suggests that learners focus heavily on explicit structural features ("e.g.," formal charge) rather than implicit features ("e.g.," an open p-orbital) when identifying and describing the role of electrophiles and nucleophiles in reaction mechanisms; however, these findings come from small-scale, interview-based investigations with a limited number of reaction mechanisms. The work reported herein seeks to further explore the meaning learners ascribe to electrophiles and nucleophiles by evaluating 19 936 written explanations from constructed-response items asking "what" is happening in reaction mechanisms and "why" it happens for 85 unique reaction mechanisms across a yearlong postsecondary organic chemistry course. To analyze these data, we developed an electrophile rubric to capture learners' level of explanation sophistication ("Absent," "Descriptive," "Foundational," and "Complex"); this electrophile rubric is complementary to a nucleophile rubric previously reported in the literature. Our data show proportional levels of explanation sophistication for electrophiles and nucleophiles ([tau][subscript b] = 0.402) across these written explanations of reaction mechanisms. We note that learners' explanations of nucleophiles tend to be at a higher level than their explanations of electrophiles. While this finding does support prior literature reports, we also found that explanations of mechanisms involving reductions of pi-bonds ("e.g.," carbonyls) tended to be more sophisticated for electrophiles than for nucleophiles. Overall, our results support the claim that learners are able to discuss both electrophilicity and nucleophilicity; however, learners discuss electrophilicity and nucleophilicity at different levels of sophistication where nucleophilicity predominates for most reaction types.

Compelling evidence, from multiple levels of schooling, suggests that teachers' knowledge and beliefs about knowledge, knowing, and learning ("i.e.," epistemologies) play a strong role in shaping their approaches to teaching and learning. Given the importance of epistemologies in science teaching, we as researchers must pay careful attention to how we model them in our work. That is, we must work to explicitly and cogently develop theoretical models of epistemology that account for the learning phenomena we observe in classrooms and other settings. Here, we use interpretation of instructor interview data to explore the constraints and affordances of two models of epistemology common in chemistry and science education scholarship: epistemological beliefs and epistemological "resources." Epistemological beliefs are typically assumed to be stable across time and place and to lie somewhere on a continuum from "instructor-centered" (worse) to "student-centered" (better). By contrast, a resources model of epistemology contends that one's view on knowledge and knowing is compiled in-the-moment from small-grain units of cognition called resources. Thus, one's epistemology may change one moment to the next. Further, the resources model explicitly rejects the notion that there is one "best" epistemology, instead positing that different epistemologies are useful in different contexts. Using both epistemological models to infer instructors' epistemologies from dialogue about their approaches to teaching and learning, we demonstrate that how one models epistemology impacts the kind of analyses possible as well as reasonable implications for supporting instructor learning. Adoption of a beliefs model enables claims about which instructors have "better" or "worse" beliefs and suggests the value of interventions aimed at shifting toward "better" beliefs. By contrast, modeling epistemology as "in situ" activation of resources enables us to explain observed instability in instructors' views on knowing and learning, surface and describe potentially productive epistemological resources, and consider instructor learning as refining valuable intuition rather than "fixing" "wrong beliefs".

Despite the important role organic chemistry plays in a wide range of industries, the undergraduate organic chemistry course sequence is considered to be difficult for and feared by students. Although work has been done to identify and address student difficulties within the cognitive and psychomotor domains, little work has focused on investigating student affect towards organic chemistry. Identifying student emotions towards the course and how these emotions impact students' learning experiences is a key component in addressing student success in organic chemistry. In general chemistry studies, attitudes have been linked to persistence and performance in the class, but little work has been done to determine what role attitude plays in organic chemistry students' experiences. In this qualitative study, student attitudes towards organic chemistry and the influences that shape those attitudes were explored. Students displayed a wide range of attitudes towards organic chemistry, including positive, negative, neutral, and blended attitudes. Five major influences were shown to have shaped these attitudes including the reputation of the course, students' educators, experiences with organic chemistry, experiences with introductory chemistry, and individual experiences. Findings also indicated that many student attitudes towards organic chemistry are in place before they have begun the course, but that students' attitudes may change after interacting with the course material. Limitations of this investigation, as well as implications for research and practitioners, are discussed.

Acid-base chemistry is a foundational concept for organic chemistry, and the complexities in teaching and learning acid-base chemistry are well documented. This study aimed to investigate post-secondary instructors' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) for teaching acid-base chemistry in an organic chemistry context. Two groups of three graduate teaching assistants and one group of three faculty instructors constructed content representations (CoRes). The three CoRes generated by these groups were qualitatively analyzed and organized into a summary compiled CoRe. Analysis of the compiled CoRe revealed eight major concepts of organic acid-base chemistry as defined by these instructors. Three major concepts were identified as foundational definitions, and five were identified as concepts that build upon these definitions. We arranged all eight concepts into a progression. Analysis of the compiled CoRe also revealed that instructors primarily leverage students' prior knowledge when teaching acid-base chemistry. Our results serve as a reference for organic chemistry instructors and may inform further research on the instruction of organic chemistry.