For longer than the 14 years I’ve been at Elon University, we’ve been administering the full-year ACS final exam in organic chemistry at the end of spring semester. It’s a valuable tool to assess our effectiveness in teaching the fundamental material that students are expected to know, and it also lets us see how our … Continue reading What about the First-Term ACS Exam?
MCAT-2015 is Here
The new year traditionally brings a time for both reflection and looking forward. For teachers of organic chemistry everywhere, this past year stands out more than most. After years of planning, MCAT-2015 is finally upon us. I previously wrote about the challenges and opportunities this change holds for us and how we, at Middlebury College, … Continue reading MCAT-2015 is Here
POGIL and Mechanisms are Natural Allies
Choosing a textbook is always an important part of class preparation, but when using Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL) with a group of students of mixed academic and reading abilities, the choice is perhaps even more important. POGIL is an evidence-based teaching/learning method used across the country. Students work in structured groups to complete … Continue reading POGIL and Mechanisms are Natural Allies
Surprises from Chapter 10
Organizing a course like organic chemistry with dense material and volumes of content to cover can be incredibly daunting. At times, it seems impossible to find a balance between giving fundamental concepts the attention they require and building up the toolbox of reactions for students to use at a reasonable pace. Like many professors, I … Continue reading Surprises from Chapter 10
Free Energy Diagrams Help Free Students from Memorization
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
Biomolecules Hidden in Plain Sight
When I consider adopting a new textbook for a course, I have one main concern: my audience. I teach a wide variety of students; the chemistry major who began doing research his freshman year on his path toward graduate school, the psychology major who is concerned about his GPA and preparation for the MCAT, the … Continue reading Biomolecules Hidden in Plain Sight
Taking the Fear Out of Lengthy Mechanisms: A Good Type of Problem from Chapter 7
Even if a student intends to devote a great amount of time and effort to studying mechanisms and to using mechanisms to understand reactions, their efforts can be easily thwarted by the sheer intimidation of relatively long mechanisms. Years ago, when I was still teaching under a functional group organization, I would hear gasps and … Continue reading Taking the Fear Out of Lengthy Mechanisms: A Good Type of Problem from Chapter 7
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
Warning: Use of the Student Manual May Result in Fewer Questions from Students
At the beginning of each semester, I make sure to emphasize the importance of working through problems in the textbook. For each chapter, I give students suggested problems to do, but with over 200 students in my organic I lecture this fall, it is impossible for me to know how well they are following my … Continue reading Warning: Use of the Student Manual May Result in Fewer Questions from Students
Helping Students Learn How to Learn
I had been going through Ken Bain’s What the Best College Teachers Do with a new faculty member this semester. The overarching theme of Bain’s book is that the best college teachers are student-centered. These “best teachers” are constantly trying to get into students' heads to help them learn how to learn. It is not … Continue reading Helping Students Learn How to Learn