Most organic professors can agree that we want our students to understand concepts and big pictures rather than memorize a list of facts. When determining the outcome or major product of a reaction, I’ve found that using free energy diagrams is a great way to facilitate concept based understanding over memorization. But despite their long-term … Continue reading Free Energy Diagrams Help Free Students from Memorization
No Longer Dreading the Second Exam
Shortly after I began teaching, when I was still using a book organized by functional group, I came to dread the second exam of the first semester. The class would typically perform decently well on the first exam, but scores would plummet on the second one. I recently looked back at my records for a … Continue reading No Longer Dreading the Second Exam
What I Want my Students to Be Able to Do by the End of the Quarter
When designing a course, many of us focus on content, with questions like ‘How do I cover the text in 30 weeks?’. This year, however, my course design started with a different question: ‘What do I really want students to get out of the organic chemistry sequence?’ and more immediately, ‘What do I want my … Continue reading What I Want my Students to Be Able to Do by the End of the Quarter
A Reaction by Any Other Name…
I gave my second exam of the semester a few days ago. One of the questions presented students with the reactants, conditions, and product of a Robinson annulation reaction. The question was worded: “Draw the complete, detailed mechanism for the following Robinson annulation.” After I collected the exams, I returned to my office to find … Continue reading A Reaction by Any Other Name…
Practice Makes Permanent
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
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)
Three Lessons from Student Exams
The advantages of Joel’s approach surfaced in the second semester of the first year I taught a mechanistically organized course while using Joel’s manuscript instead of a traditional textbook. Student experience on exams demonstrated to me three points: I had unwittingly expected students to memorize organic chemistry instead of think mechanistically; the focus on mechanisms … Continue reading Three Lessons from Student Exams
Predicting the Products of an SN1/SN2/E1/E2 Competition
When I teach nucleophilic substitution and elimination reactions, I find that students typically have very little trouble drawing each mechanism and predicting the products, so long as they are specifically told which reaction. But many students find one aspect very challenging: predicting the winner of an SN1/SN2/E1/E2 competition. In my first few years of teaching, … Continue reading Predicting the Products of an SN1/SN2/E1/E2 Competition
On Nomenclature
In my first few years as a professor, I taught nomenclature in the way it was organized in the textbook I was using at the time—i.e., according to functional group. Each time my class began a new functional group chapter, I would teach aspects of nomenclature associated with that functional group. Indeed, I found this … Continue reading On Nomenclature