The Shrewd Guess: Can a Software System Assist Students in Hypothesis-Driven Learning for Organic Chemistry?

Abstract

The mechanism maps that guide student instruction in organic chemistry curricula are structural representations of bond-breaking and bond-making events that transform a reactant into a product. For students, these pathways represented by electron pushing formalism (EPF) can be challenging 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 (“the App”) 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 with real-time feedback of these moves. In this paper, the pedagogical content of the App and its backend system is described. This system produces a graphical record of a user’s move within the App and is called a decision tree. A study of students’ use of the App in two different modes was devised to understand whether the in-app experience can facilitate a hypothesis-driven approach to learning EPF. Examples of classroom implementation for the App in a variety of institutions and future research are also described.

Interactive Tools for First-Semester Undergraduate Chemistry Course in Uruguay: Student Choices and Impact on Student Performance and Dropout

“…This is a challenge to the development team, which needs to strike a balance between building enough scaffolding for novice learners but bringing also the diversity and interactivity that promote all students' engagement as a part of the user's experience. 15,24,25 Student engagement, that is, the personal investment in the effort directed toward learning, is indeed a determinant factor. It depends on student personal characteristics, but it is also closely related and even developed by learner-content interaction during use.…”

“…26,27 The successful design of interactive materials includes timely interactive tools that can promote active processing and answering by learners. 25,28,29 In this work, interactive tools refer to those tools offered in a learning environment that react based on student actions and in turn promote new student actions. 30 During learner−content interaction, students are expected to apply what has been taught/demonstrated, while the offered environment gives them correlated and meaningful help and responses.…”

“…So, ideally, instructional design must cover different freely eligible levels of difficulty, to increasingly challenge students along the learning path, as well as to offer adequate options for the pre-existing diversity of individuals. This is a challenge to the development team, which needs to strike a balance between building enough scaffolding for novice learners but bringing also the diversity and interactivity that promote all students’ engagement as a part of the user’s experience. ,, …”

“…It depends on student personal characteristics, but it is also closely related and even developed by learner-content interaction during use. Materials should be carefully designed for encouraging student-content engagement by means of an attractive but simple design, and by including real-life examples and activities that provide different eligible opportunities and varied perspectives that enhance the user experience of all students. , The successful design of interactive materials includes timely interactive tools that can promote active processing and answering by learners. ,, …”

Chemist Bot as a Helpful Personal Online Training Tool for the Final Chemistry Examination

“…Over the past few years, there have been articles focused on distance learning in chemistry and teaching chemistry on the Internet. , In chemistry, online education is provided in various ways: some resources offer courses with lessons and tests, , while others provide access to educational games , and videos . Moreover, remote laboratories are known where learners are able to conduct various chemical experiments. , …”