Golf can frustrate my husband more than any other sport he plays. He recently asked a friend, who is a golf instructor, how to improve his game. The friend responded by saying that, “Practice does not make perfect, practice makes permanent.” If you are practicing with errors, it does not matter how much you practice, … Continue reading Practice Makes Permanent
Improvements on Retrosynthetic Analysis
Success in organic chemistry is heavily reliant on a student’s ability to identify patterns. Until recently, I organized my course by functional group. It was only after I adopted Joel Karty’s approach that I recognized that the variety of reactions used to synthesize each functional group can vary widely and that this variance makes it … Continue reading Improvements on Retrosynthetic Analysis
Building a Solid Foundation Gives the Student More Confidence
When I was in ninth grade, my family built a house. I remember my dad, who is an engineer, regularly checking on the progress and quality of the foundation. He knew that the foundation was the most important part of the house. Building a proper foundation took a lot of time, but it was important … Continue reading Building a Solid Foundation Gives the Student More Confidence
How Are Students Expected To Use A Textbook? [Video]
Students are encouraged to read their textbook before and after lecture, but do they? Elon professor Joel Karty discusses the pedagogical features in his new textbook--Display Text and Your Turn exercises--that have helped motivate his students to read, often weeks before lecture, and that he believes gives students more control over their own learning. Why … Continue reading How Are Students Expected To Use A Textbook? [Video]
Reasoning By Analogy
For twelve years I’ve taught organic chemistry to a mixture of chemistry and biology students. I always begin Organic I by asking my students this same question: Why are you taking this class? Some students respond that the curriculum plan for their major or career requires the organic chemistry course sequence. For other students, organic … Continue reading Reasoning By Analogy
Making Backward Mechanism Arrows An Endangered Species
I’ve just finished grading the first exam for my Organic II course and I’ve experienced something I never have before. Of the more than 50 students that took my Organic I course last semester, none of them drew a single mechanism arrow in the wrong direction [1]. Yes, some of these students did get parts … Continue reading Making Backward Mechanism Arrows An Endangered Species
Making a Commitment (But Not to Traditions)
I did not realize my commitment to traditions—in my personal life and in the classroom—until recently. In my personal life, I discovered that I was married to a person who did not know that: Christmas trees are decorated while listening to Christmas music and not with a basketball game on in the background; salads are … Continue reading Making a Commitment (But Not to Traditions)
Lone Pairs and Aromaticity
One of the things my students find most challenging about aromaticity is whether to include lone pairs as part of a cyclic π system. If a lone pair is included, then the number of π electrons increases by two, and a student’s prediction about whether a species is aromatic will also change. What I think … Continue reading Lone Pairs and Aromaticity
The Three M’s: Motivating, Modernizing, and MCAT
At most colleges and universities, students enrolled in organic chemistry come from a variety of majors and pre-professional programs. At St. Kate’s, the organic sections are a 20/20/40 split of chemistry, food & nutrition science, and biology majors. Twenty percent of our students are enrolled in organic in order to fulfill prerequisites for a variety … Continue reading The Three M’s: Motivating, Modernizing, and MCAT
How Do Students Respond to the Mechanistic Organization? [Video]
Elon professor Joel Karty discusses his observations of how students seem to have more understanding, command, and control of their organic chemistry education when taught via the mechanistic organization. Prof. Karty also talks about being pleasantly surprised by the more interesting questions that students ask after learning elementary steps. Why mechanisms? What does it mean … Continue reading How Do Students Respond to the Mechanistic Organization? [Video]