Using the Research Literature to Develop an Adaptive Intervention to Improve Student Explanations of an S_N1 Reaction Mechanism

Abstract

Two key topics of many second-year organic chemistry courses are substitution and elimination reactions. Predicting and explaining substitution and elimination reactions tends to be a challenging task for students, as documented in the research literature. Motivated by the many documented challenges experienced by students when learning these reaction types, we developed an adaptive intervention designed to improve student explanations of an SN1 reaction mechanism. The intervention relies on computer-based scoring to evaluate students’ written explanations of a reaction mechanism (i.e., preassessment) in determining which of two tutorials to present to a respondent. Tutorials were designed to facilitate construction of explanations of the given SN1 reaction mechanism based on known student difficulties with reaction mechanisms and recommendations for teaching SN1-related concepts in the chemical education research literature. The Level 1 tutorial aims to move students from a description only explanation to a surface level explanation (i.e., Level 2). The Level 2 Tutorial aims to move students from a surface level explanation to a deeper level explanation (i.e., Level 3). Success of the intervention was evaluated through ordinal logistic regression, finding that the Level 1 Tutorial and the Level 2 Tutorial are net effective, with odds ratios of 2.46 and 1.73, respectively, in increasing students’ level of explanation sophistication.

WebMO: Web‐based computational chemistry calculations in education and research

“…WebMO can be used to provide computational and visual explanations of many concepts in organic chemistry courses and laboratories 72–83 :…”

Praxis of Writing-to-Learn: A Model for the Design and Propagation of Writing-to-Learn in STEM

“…One approach is through the development and application of machine-learning tools to evaluate short-answer responses. Research at the general and organic chemistry levels shows promise for these types of tools to provide faculty an overview of the concepts that students can successfully and unsuccessfully explain and connect, as well as the sophistication of students’ responses. − These same tools could also be used to provide students with feedback. , Another approach is to harness peer review as a feedback mechanism. Our research within the MWrite program demonstrates that students can successfully provide constructive, content-focused feedback to their peers. ,,, MWrite attempts to reduce the instructional barriers associated with large class sizes and limited time that may constrain faculty use of writing through the assignment designsuch as by incorporating peer reviewand creating support structures for faculty.…”

“…43−45 These same tools could also be used to provide students with feedback. 46,47 Another approach is to harness peer review as a feedback mechanism.…”

Using Computational Chemistry to Improve Students’ Multidimensional Understanding of Complex Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution Reactions: Further Analysis of the Solvent Effect, Temperature Influence, and Kinetic Behaviors

“…Student-centered teaching has become increasingly common in higher education in recent decades. After finishing the basic organic content in classes or lectures, students in universities tend to utilize both experiments and theories to further strengthen learning outcomes and to obtain deep understanding of a series of chemical reactions. − With the rapid development of science and technology, higher-level interdisciplinary requirements for the depth, extension, and diversity of chemistry learning are indispensable. In this regard, some new methods such as computational chemistry and molecular dynamics simulations have been introduced into chemistry education in universities, and various computational chemistry methods are widely put into applications. − Among them, DFT (density functional theory) could be used to study structures and properties of multielectron molecules in terms of the electron density, and it is now widely used in organic chemistry scientific research. ,− …”