Student Reasoning in Organic Chemistry

387 Pages·2023·31.345 MB·English

by  Nicole Graulich, Ginger Shultz

Student Reasoning in Organic Chemistry
Research Advances and Evidence-based Instructional Practices
Advances in Chemistry Education Series
Editor-in-chief:
Keith S. Taber, University of Cambridge, UK
Series editors:
Avi Hofstein, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
Vicente Talanquer, University of Arizona, USA
David Treagust, Curtin University, Australia
Editorial Advisory Board:
Mei-Hung Chiu, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan, Rosaria da Silva
Justi, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil, Onno De Jong, Utrecht
University, Netherlands, Ingo Eilks, University of Bremen, Germany, Murat
Kahveci, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Turkey, Vanessa Kind, Durham
University, UK, Stacey Lowery Bretz, Miami University, USA, Hannah Sevian,
University of Massachusetts Boston, USA, Daniel Tan, Nanyang Technolog-
ical University, Singapore, Marcy Towns, Purdue University, USA, Georgios
Tsaparlis, University of Ioannina, Greece.
Titles in the Series:
1: Professional Development of Chemistry Teachers: Theory and Practice
2: Argumentation in Chemistry Education: Research, Policy and Practice
3: The Nature of the Chemical Concept: Re-constructing Chemical Knowl-
edge in Teaching and Learning
4: Creative Chemists: Strategies for Teaching and Learning
5: Engaging Learners with Chemistry: Projects to Stimulate Interest and
Participation
6: The Johnstone Triangle: The Key to Understanding Chemistry
7: Problems and Problem Solving in Chemistry Education
8: Teaching and Learning in the School Chemistry Laboratory
9: Nanochemistry for Chemistry Educators
10: Student Reasoning in Organic Chemistry: Research Advances and Evi-
dence-based Instructional Practices
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Student Reasoning in Organic
Chemistry
By
Nicole Graulich
Justus-Liebig-University Gießen, Germany
Email: [email protected]
and
Ginger Shultz
University of Michigan, USA
Email: [email protected]
Advances in Chemistry Education Series No. 10
Print ISBN: 978-1-83916-491-0
PDF ISBN: 978-1-83916-778-2
EPUB ISBN: 978-1-83916-779-9
Print ISSN: 2056-9335
Electronic ISSN: 2056-9343
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Dedication
Dedicated to the memory of Prof. George Bodner (08 March 1946–19 March
2021), Purdue University, who inspired so many over decades in their love for
organic chemistry education.

Advances in Chemistry Education Series No. 10
Student Reasoning in Organic Chemistry: Research Advances and Evidence-based Instructional 
Practices
Edited by Nicole Graulich and Ginger Shultz
© The Royal Society of Chemistry 2023
Published by the Royal Society of Chemistry, www.rsc.org
v

Foreword
“How do we know what we know?” sounds like a trivial question but it is
not. To differentiate between justified belief and opinion has never been
more important in the sciences, and especially in the public perception of
science in general. This epistemology is one of the pillars upon which sci-
ence and all rational action and reasoning is built upon. As the title Student
Reasoning in Organic Chemistry reveals, the present book edited by Nicole
Graulich and Ginger Shultz analyses the teaching of organic chemistry with
the goal to improve chemistry instruction. It therefore fills a long apparent,
but never systematically addressed, knowledge gap regarding the outcome of
our instructional efforts by highlighting current advances in chemistry edu-
cation research.
From a very personal perspective, I realize that when I draw an organic
reaction mechanism, I hope the students will follow my drawings and my
words and it all makes sense. Sometimes I realize that I am not quite sure
whether the things I draw are simply memorised to understand the outcome
of a reaction—sort of a mnemonic trick—or, if I have reasons to believe that
this particular mechanistic hypothesis is close to some “scientific reality”.
How hard is it to accept that an electron pair is a curved arrow from which
most of the action originates? Can the students visualize chemical structures
in three dimensions from some simple stick drawings that are in all honesty
quite a leap of faith? Will different representation styles add to the students’
comprehension or confusion? There are many more questions of this sort
that are highly relevant but often not discussed. I am pleased to see that the
present book picks up where these questions leave me.
I’ve spoken to colleagues about this and many feel similarly. Still, there
are no systematic efforts to determine whether the applied teaching meth-
ods, the language, or the pictorial framework ultimately leads to a deep

Advances in Chemistry Education Series No. 10
Student Reasoning in Organic Chemistry: Research Advances and Evidence-based Instructional 
Practices
Edited by Nicole Graulich and Ginger Shultz
© The Royal Society of Chemistry 2023
Published by the Royal Society of Chemistry, www.rsc.org
vii
viii Foreword
understanding of organic reaction mechanisms that would allow the stu-
dents to reason rationally about the outcome of a reaction that they have
not yet seen before. I am quite impressed that the present book tackles these
issues with a very fresh look, often including very modern assessment tools
of students as well as teacher habits and performances. As I teach organic
reaction mechanisms myself, this book comes quite handy, and I comple-
ment the Editors on their efforts to put such a valuable resource together. I
am sure you will benefit from this collection of excellent articles just as much
and hope you enjoy the reading!
Dr Peter R. Schreiner
Liebig-Chair and Professor of Organic Chemistry
Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany
President, German Chemical Society (GDCh, 2020 & 2021)