The Mechanisms App and Platform:

Winter, Julia; Wegwerth, Sarah E.; DeKorver, Brittland K.; Morsch, Layne A.; DeSutter, Dane; Goldman, Lawrence M.; Reutenauer, Lauren M.

doi:10.1021/bk-2019-1336.ch007

Cited by 8 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…The “Mechanisms” app contains a wide range of puzzles where students can work through organic reaction mechanisms on a touch-screen device. , At the beginning of a reaction, students are presented with a task card that depicts the initial reactants, intermediates, or a step in the reaction mechanism (Figure C,D). Students can manipulate and move the molecules using the touch-screen, reveal or hide implicit hydrogens and lone pairs by tapping on atoms, and break and form bonds by moving bonds or lone pairs from one atom to another.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Increasingly, there also exist applications which can also support students working through organic structures and mechanisms. [22][23][24] The app used in this study, "Mechanisms", may provide students with additional sources of knowledge about the progress of the reaction. This may take the form of an operation depicted by a task card to students at the beginning of a puzzle or a hint in the app directing students to consider how the concept of carbocation stabilization through resonance applies syntactically to inform the operation they perform.…”

Section: Addition Reactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Students can extract knowledge about the relationships between or within molecules from the molecular representations of referents, and can use this knowledge when considering the pertinent rules and syntax to predict a mechanistic step. Increasingly, there also exist applications which can support students as they work with organic structures and through mechanisms. − The app used in this study, “Mechanisms,” may provide students with additional sources of knowledge about the progress of the reaction . This may take the form of an operation depicted by a task card or a hint in the app that directs students to consider how the syntax affiliated with the concept of resonance applies to carbocation stabilization.…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exploring Student Thinking about Addition Reactions

et al. 2020

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Organic chemistry is a required course sequence for many STEM students, however research indicates that organic chemistry reaction mechanisms are especially challenging for students due to a mixture of underlying conceptual difficulties, the process-oriented thinking inherent to the discipline, and the representations commonly used to depict mechanisms. While student reasoning about many of the reaction types covered in the organic chemistry curriculum have been studied previously, there is minimal research focused specifically on how students think about the mechanisms of addition reactions. This study addresses that gap by probing first semester organic chemistry students' thinking using think-aloud interviews as they worked through two different addition reactions. To elicit a range of thinking, students worked through the mechanisms using either paper and pencil or an app that dynamically represents the molecules. Overall, students were able to identify the steps of the two addition reactions but did not always successfully apply chemical thinking during the mechanistic steps. Specifically, both groups of students struggled with the concepts related to carbocation stability, frequently misapplying stabilization via substitution and demonstrating difficulty in identifying the potential for resonance stabilization. Our results suggest that instructors should emphasize the conceptual grounding directing mechanistic steps, in particular when determining carbocation stability.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Addition Reactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exploring Student Thinking about Addition Reactions

et al. 2020

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“…The "Mechanisms" app contains a wide range of puzzles where students can work through organic reaction mechanisms on a touch-screen device. 23,26 At the beginning of a puzzle, students are presented with a task card that depicts the initial reactants, intermediate, or a step in the reaction mechanism. Students can manipulate and move the molecules using the touch-screen, reveal or hide implicit hydrogens and lone pairs by tapping on atoms, and break and form bonds by moving bonds or lone pairs from one atom to another.…”

Section: Description Of App Softwarementioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring Student Thinking About Addition Reactions

Finkenstaedt-Quinn¹,

Watts²,

Petterson³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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While student reasoning about many of the reaction types covered in the organic chemistry curriculum have been studied previously, there is minimal research focused specifically on how students think about the mechanisms of addition reactions. This study addresses that gap by probing organic chemistry students’ thinking using think-aloud interviews as they worked through two different addition reactions. Students worked through the mechanisms using either paper and pencil or an app that dynamically represents the molecules. Overall, students were able to identify the steps of the two addition reactions but did not always successfully apply chemical thinking during the mechanistic steps. Specifically, both groups of students struggled with the concepts related to carbocation stability, frequently misapplying stabilization via substitution and demonstrating difficulty in identifying the potential for resonance stabilization. Our results suggest that instructors should emphasize the conceptual grounding directing mechanistic steps, in particular when determining carbocation stability.

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“…17 The Mechanisms app, by Alchemie, was developed to allow students to experiment and "play" with the electrons and bonds of organic chemistry to make sense of the EPF in a game-like experience. 4,18 The original hypothesis that grounded the app's development was inspired by Jerome Bruner's theory of constructivism, and that if students could interact with and get immediate feedback from a software system that presented EPF on a touchscreen, they would be more likely to reason through the mechanisms of organic chemistry. Bruner was a proponent for discovery-based learning through careful scaffolding of material.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Mechanisms App: Electron-Pushing Formalism as a Software System

Winter

Wegwerth²,

Manchester³

et al. 2020

Preprint

Self Cite

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<p>The arrows depicting electron movement and the bond-making and breaking events are the maps that guide student instruction in organic chemistry curricula. For students, the pathways represented by electron pushing formalism (EPF) can be tough to navigate. For instructors, providing formative feedback to students to support their learning of the EPF arrow system is difficult to provide in a timely manner. The Mechanisms app (“Mechanisms”) was developed as a method for students to explore the electron movement of organic chemistry through a touch screen interface of a smart phone or tablet and do so within a game-like experience. In this paper the pedagogical content of the Mechanisms app (“Mechanisms”) is described along with studies of students’ use of the app to understand whether the open-ended experience to construct understanding of EPF is valuable as a formative assessment method. Presented in this paper are the results of Mechanisms use by analysis of a multi-institution anonymous student survey, with a usability study of organic chemistry students, and with three case studies detailing the use of the app in college classrooms. </p>

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The Mechanisms App and Platform:

Cited by 8 publications

References 6 publications

Exploring Student Thinking about Addition Reactions

Exploring Student Thinking about Addition Reactions

Exploring Student Thinking About Addition Reactions

The Mechanisms App: Electron-Pushing Formalism as a Software System

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