The organic chemistry curriculum at University of Wisconsin-La Crosse consists of the lecture sequence and the stand-alone laboratory course. The laboratory course is required for students interested in majoring in chemistry or biochemistry. Due to the curriculum design the students in the laboratory can arrive at different points of their careers. For example, they might have just completed the first theory course and are concurrently enrolled in the second. Alternatively, they may have passed both lecture courses recently or a while ago. It provides challenges for connecting fundamental concepts learned in lecture to the hands-on activities. As a result, the laboratory is traditionally taught with a focus on learning an array of techniques, e.g. recrystallization, extraction, rather than with the focus on illustrating the intertwining structure of organic chemistry.<br/>I have previously reported on the transformation of an expository laboratory course to a course-embedded undergraduate research experience (CURE). However, the pandemic placed substantial challenges on performing hands-on research activities and in-person collaboration.<br/>To promote the learning community and provide students an opportunity to learn remotely I have developed several computational modeling experiments. I chose experiment objectives to align with concepts that students often struggle in lecture, e.g. acid-base equilibrium, 3D visualization of molecules and chirality, and understanding of mechanisms.<br/>Herein I report on my attempts to use free software such as Avogadro and GAMESS to develop the target theoretical experiments. Technology used to promote student collaboration and completion of research activities will be shared. I will illustrate the modifications to the curriculum that were made to accommodate the change. Samples of formative assessments to demonstrate student learning gains and themes of exit surveys will also be presented.

Use of computational modeling to reduce compartmentalization of knowledge in organic chemistry

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.