Organic Chemistry Educators’ Perspectives on Fundamental Concepts and Misconceptions: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

An exploratory study was conducted with 23 organic chemistry educators to discover what general chemistry concepts they typically review, the concepts they believe are fundamental to introductory organic chemistry, the topics students find most difficult in the subject, and the misconceptions they observe in undergraduate organic chemistry students. The goal of the study was to generate an exploratory overview of current practice in order to spur discussion on organic chemistry curriculum and to encourage further chemical education research on students’ understandings of organic chemistry concepts. While there were some overlaps, the differences found between participant perspectives are striking. In addition, participant perceptions of fundamental concepts of organic chemistry and the concept guidelines set forth by the ACS are notably different. While a number of chemistry misconceptions were noted by the educators, not all of the participants attempted to identify or were even aware of student misconceptions in organic chemistry.

Analysis of Students’ Missed Organic Chemistry Quiz Questions that Stress the Importance of Prior General Chemistry Knowledge

“…Studies [24,25] support students' lack of prior knowledge about the number of bonds around a carbon atom. In a survey of college organic chemistry instructors it was found that students indicate that "carbon can have more than or less than four bonds" ( [24], p. 347).…”

“…It is these same topics that have posed a challenge to organic chemistry instructors and provide the motivation for them to review prior general chemistry knowledge [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. The general chemistry concepts they review are listed in Table 1.…”

“…A survey [24] was conducted of 23 college organic chemistry instructors who listed general chemistry concepts with more than one participant indicating other concepts such as equilibrium, mechanisms, and reaction coordinate diagrams. The instructors were also asked what concepts were fundamental to organic chemistry and to identify difficult organic chemistry topics.…”

“…Topics in common to these two categories were reaction mechanisms, acid-base chemistry, resonance, structure and bonding, and stereochemistry. Students' lack of prior knowledge that was noted in the survey by more than one participant included: "carbon atoms can have more than or less than four bonds, electrons flow toward negative or uncharged sites, resonance is a fast exchange of electrons, resonance is an equilibrium, resonance states are compounds that exist in real time, and hydroxide or alkoxide ions can be present in a reaction mechanism carried out in acidic solution" ( [24], p. 347). The topics listed have the potential to contribute to difficulties in organic chemistry that interfere with students' meaningful learning.…”

Química orgánica en contexto y argumentación científica: una secuencia de enseñanza aprendizaje, desafíos y compromisos

“…En la enseñanza de la química orgánica, específicamente en los tópicos de nomenclatura, estructura bi o tridimensional de moléculas, propiedades fisicoquímicas del carbono y reactividad orgánica estudios demuestran algunos obstáculos y concepciones alternativas que poseen los estudiantes sobre algunos procesos característicos fundamentales para la comprensión de la química orgánica. Además, cabe mencionar que la mayoría de estos estudios explicitan las concepciones alternativas que poseen los estudiantes en educación superior (Duis J., 2011;Hernández et al, 2013;Rushton et al, 2008;Treagust et al, 2004;Villaseñor et al, 2013;Zoller U., 1990). Para efectos de este trabajo se incluyeron las investigaciones que podían ser extrapoladas a educación secundaria.…”