Undergraduate and graduate students alike struggle with the electron-pushing formalism used in organic chemistry. Recent work has described a set of faculty-identified conceptual prerequisites that students must master before gaining fluency in the electron-pushing formalism. These concepts include electronegativity, bond polarity, Lewis acid-base theory, and identification of nucleophilic and electrophilic sites or functional groups in organic molecules. These content areas are all related to the overarching construct of reactivity. Knowledge about student understanding of chemical reactivity in contexts specifically related to organic chemistry is limited. Undergraduate students enrolled in organic chemistry were interviewed to learn about their ideas surrounding the interrelated concepts of nucleophilicity and electrophilicity. Preliminary data from the semi-structured interviews will be presented.

Exploring organic chemistry students' understandings of reactivity

248th National Meeting (2014)

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