OrgoPrep: A Remote Peer-Led Summer Program Preparing Students for Organic Chemistry

Abstract

The transition from general chemistry to organic chemistry is challenging for many students. To succeed, students must remember their foundational chemistry skills and effectively transfer that knowledge into the context of organic chemistry. However, this transition is often hindered by many obstacles: (1) lack of prerequisite knowledge, (2) lack of understanding how foundational chemistry knowledge is applicable to organic chemistry, and (3) high levels of anxiety and low levels of self-efficacy toward organic chemistry. To address these challenges, a peer-led summer program that leverages question-embedded videos, worksheets, and synchronous remote webinars to enhance students’ transition into organic chemistry was developed and assessed. This six-week program, OrgoPrep, covers a wide set of introductory organic chemistry topics: resonance structures, hybridization and moleculer shape, molecular orbitals, acid–base chemistry, limiting reagents, and more. Substantial benefits, such as decreasing student anxiety and doubling student self-efficacy, were observed for students who completed OrgoPrep. These students also significantly outperformed their peers who did not participate in the program, despite having no statistical difference in prior chemistry abilitiesOrgoPrep students had a 3-fold decrease in failing grades and a 2-fold increase in A grades. Overall, OrgoPrep successfully serves as a bridge between general and organic chemistry, while facilitating knowledge transfer and enhancing student self-efficacy.

Mitigating Educational Debts in Organic Chemistry for Historically Marginalized Students via a Summer Preparatory Program

“…OrgoPrep students outperformed those who did not participate in the program by over half a letter grade ( d = 0.573, p < 0.001). These benefits were even larger in 2021 than in the pilot year of the program . Furthermore, OrgoPrep students performed better than their non-OrgoPrep counterparts on all five exams in organic chemistry, including the cumulative final exam, with effect sizes ranging from d = 0.478 to 0.579 ( p < 0.001).…”

“…Since achievement gaps are especially wide in organic chemistry, past studies have explored if summer preparatory programs could enhance the transition between general and organic chemistry courses and minimize attrition. , One such asynchronous program utilizing lecture-style instructional videos, accompanying notes, and online assignments was shown to benefit all students equally, including those identified as low-income, first-generation, or underrepresented minorities. Although this program was successful in improving organic chemistry performance by about a third of a letter grade, no differential impact for HMGs was observed, and pre-existing achievement gaps were perpetuated.…”

“…The program has been offered for free to all students at the university, and 25 timeslots for attending webinars were offered throughout the week to minimize any financial or scheduling barriers for the students. Additional discussion on how the program was designed (e.g., cognitive load theory, frameworks for optimizing knowledge transfer, social cognitive theory) have been presented extensively elsewhere. ,, Details about how to implement the OrgoPrep program can be found in the original OrgoPrep paper …”

Predictions of success in organic chemistry based on a mathematics skills test and academic achievement

“…Implementation of PLTL has been shown to improve exam scores (Tien et al, 2002) and lead to higher success rates (Wamser, 2006) in organic chemistry. Online preparatory courses (Fischer et al, 2019;Pulukuri et al, 2021) delivered via a learning management system have also been found to result in higher performance and success rates in organic chemistry. There are also various examples of utilizing social-psychological interventions (SPIs) in order to increase performance and persistence in STEM courses.…”

Embedded Questions and Targeted Feedback Transform Passive Educational Videos into Effective Active Learning Tools

“…Question-embedded videos (QEVs) are asynchronous learning tools that require students to solve problems and receive targeted feedback throughout the video. − By design, embedded problems enforce student engagement and trigger active learning. While QEVs can serve as standalone instructional resources, they are also effective learning modalities for the preclass preparation phase of flipped classrooms. ,,− Prior research suggests that students learn more in the independent and asynchronous preparation phase of a flipped classroom, so finding effective out-of-class teaching methods is critical for maximizing learning gains and promoting equitable learning environments. Although textbook readings have traditionally been the primary out-of-class learning resource, instructors have been transitioning to using traditional narrative videos, such as those posted on YouTube or Khan Academy, instead.…”