Despite a brief introduction to “Resonance” from General Chemistry, students in organic chemistry courses struggle with using “Resonance” concepts to explain different chemical phenomenon. One of the course-learning outcomes for Organic Chemistry course is that at the end of the course, students must be able to recognize resonance and correctly move electrons, analyze the resonance contributors and propose resonance when appropriate to explain chemical behavior. Students must not only remember or recall resonance concepts (low level on Bloom's taxonomy) but also demonstrate that they have achieved that learning by using them in larger context to explain and synthesize knowledge (higher level on Bloom's taxonomy). Students have difficulty applying the fundamentals of resonance theory to explain acid-base concepts, aromaticity and while writing advanced mechanisms. Assessment tools that are specifically designed to help instructors know about students' learning have been selected for this study. Analysis of i-Clicker and Multiple Choice (MC) exam data from various Organic Chemistry I and II lecture courses have been used to determine the concepts where students exhibit misconceptions and deficiencies in applying resonance concepts correctly. Data have been collected from the following three sources to identify and examine common misconceptions: (1) Screenshots of student work captured using iPads at the point of delivery during lectures (2) Data from the electronic voting system (i-Clickers) (3) Data from online homework. Analysis of all three provides valuable formative assessment data that provide valuable feedback of student misconceptions in moving electrons. Here, we explore the use of some effective, evidence-based approaches using a combination of traditional and electronic active learning tools (i-Clicker, online HW and interactive iPads) to assess the teaching of Organic Chemistry with the aim of understanding how students learn and use “Resonance”.

Investigating student misconceptions in applying resonance concepts in undergraduate organic chemistry courses using various formative and summative assessment tools

254th National Meeting (2017)

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