The subject of stereochemistry within the undergraduate organic chemistry curriculum can be a difficult one for instructors to teach and for students to learn.  We have initiated a study examining the impact of students’ natural spatial manipulation abilities on their success in determining 3-dimentional relationships between objects and subsequently molecules. In addition, we looked at the impact on student performance of an early introduction to the use of 2D manipulations versus a control group that had a more traditional 3-d approach to the subject.  Preliminary results of our study will be presented, some of which challenge commonly held beliefs related to the teaching and learning of the subject.

Evaluation of the relationship between spatial pattern recognition and learning stereochemical principles

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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