The Role of Structure of the Discipline in Improving Student Understanding:The Case of Organic Chemistry

摘要

Many instructors would be gratified if they were able to identify a concept that students struggle to internalize,to implement an intervention,and then be rewarded with concrete evidence that the intervention significantly improved student learning.This was the case in second-year organic chemistry at this university where an intervention by a concerned instructor(1)was able to transform the organic chemistry module from one of the most difficult of six modules to one of the easiest,not only in terms of student performance,but also in how students perceived the module.It is often the case in naturalistic research that important observations are unanticipated.