A New Higher Education Curriculum in Organic Chemistry: What Questions Should Be Asked?

Abstract

Organic chemistry is often considered to be a difficult subject to teach and to learn, particularly as students prefer to resort to memorization alone rather than reasoning using models from chemical reactivity. Existing studies have led us to suggest principles for redefining the curriculum, ranging from its overall structure to the tasks given to the students. We suggest reorganizing the contents around the organic chemist's questions and even in the first year implementing teaching based on modeling, organic synthesis and using a database (the 'reaction library') in class. Finally, we present a full curriculum reconciling these principles with the current contents of an organic chemistry course.

Scaffolding for chemistry students – which tools are assessed as being more helpful: stepped supporting tools or task navigators?

“…At the end of the course there is a written exam. Because teaching organic chemistry is always a challenge (Lafarge, Morge, & Méheut, 2014), for the seminar new methods are developed: for the preparation of the seminars, homework sheets for the students with tips for following up on the lecture were designed, and for the use in the seminars two sorts of scaffolds were developed and used. In the seminars all tasks were solved together; a special focus lies on the application of the knowledge from the lecture to ensure that the students can build up conceptual knowledge on the topic.…”

Connecting Chemistry to Community with Deliberative Democracy

“…The structure and content of the chemistry curriculum is a frequent topic of discussion in the chemistry education literature (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6). One point raised in these discussions is whether chemistry should be taught as a collection of facts or as a way of thinking (7).…”

Utilisation et rôles des exemples lors d’enseignements universitaires de chimie

“…Certains facteurs qui caractérisent les choix des exemples ont tendance à s'opposer. En chimie organique, choisir des exemples avec des molécules réelles (exemples qualifiés de concrets) n'est pas toujours compatible avec une contrainte didactique, la présentation progressive des différentes familles de fonctions qui respecte une progression conceptuelle (aspect cognitif) classique (Lafarge et al, 2014), marque d'une habitude professionnelle (aspect social des pratiques). Cela conduit à une tension : comment concilier ces deux aspects ?…”