Student Reasoning in Organic Chemistry

Book excerpt: Reasoning about structure-reactivity and chemical processes is a key competence in chemistry. Especially in organic chemistry, students experience difficulty appropriately interpreting organic representations and reasoning about the underlying causality of organic mechanisms. As organic chemistry is often a bottleneck for students’ success in their career, compiling and distilling the insights from recent research in the field will help inform future instruction and the empowerment of chemistry students worldwide. This book brings together leading research groups to highlight recent advances in chemistry education research with a focus on the characterization of students’ reasoning and their representational competencies, as well as the impact of instructional and assessment practices in organic chemistry. Written by leaders in the field, Student Reasoning in Organic Chemistry is ideal for chemistry education researchers, instructors and practitioners, and graduate students in chemistry education.