Clik here to view.
An Unsung Classic
I recently discovered Miguel Alonso’s The Art of Problem Solving in Organic Chemistry among my research group’s collection. This book makes a great companion to Grossman’s The Art of Writing Reasonable...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Reaction Mechanisms as Narratives
The other day, a colleague and I were discussing the value of narratives in education—how teachers can use stories to make ideas stick, fit new content into existing mental models, and bring enthusiasm...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Speaking the Same (Chemical) Language
The organic chemistry course I teach makes use of a problem-solving website built on MarvinSketch to collect and evaluate student responses. This feature of the course has the awesome effect of forcing...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Chemical Education Roundup, 7-22-12
Has it really been almost a year since I last published a roundup? Wow. I confess that I’ve been putting much more effort recently into another project, The Organometallic Reader. With BCCE 2012 coming...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Chain Mechanisms and Catalysis: What’s the Difference?
In a recent authoring project on organic chemistry, I came across the following statement: A chain mechanism involves two or more repeating steps. Is this a true statement? Well, yes and no. Yes, a...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Organic Chemistry Curriculum: A Step in the Right Direction
Alison Flynn’s latest in the Journal of Chemical Education is an instant classic. She describes a redesign of the organic chemistry curriculum at the University of Ottawa that tackles head on the issue...
View Article
