Early in my teaching career I realized that a large percentage of my organic chemistry students weren’t carrying forward nearly as much from their general chemistry course as I had expected. This is a potentially enormous problem because without command of, and the ability to apply, several concepts from general chemistry, students will find it … Continue reading What Role Should the Organic Textbook Play in Helping Students Transition From General Chemistry?
Is Organizing by Mechanism Necessarily “Higher Level”?
Because organizing by mechanism really helped me turn around my own organic chemistry course, I was eager to share what I had learned. Many instructors I’ve talked to over the years have been very receptive; some have even adopted this organization themselves. But I’ve encountered a good amount of apprehension as well. Some instructors worry … Continue reading Is Organizing by Mechanism Necessarily “Higher Level”?
A Story Worth Telling
I have been teaching organic chemistry at Jefferson Community & Technical College (JCTC) in Louisville (KT) since 1994. Although we are an open-enrollment institution, with a class size of thirty students or less, the chemistry classes at JCTC resemble those at a small liberal-arts college. I met Joel Karty in 2005 at a conference. We … Continue reading A Story Worth Telling
Functional Groups, Mechanisms, and Memorization
I began teaching organic chemistry some 11 years ago at Elon University, a moderately sized liberal arts school in central North Carolina. Like many professors just starting out, I was eager and committed to my students’ success. I knew that mechanisms were the key to this success because focusing on mechanisms worked for me as … Continue reading Functional Groups, Mechanisms, and Memorization