Organic Chemistry Students' Interpretations of the Surface Features of Reaction Coordinate Diagrams

Autor/inn/en	Popova, Maia; Bretz, Stacey Lowery
Titel	Organic Chemistry Students' Interpretations of the Surface Features of Reaction Coordinate Diagrams
Quelle	In: Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 19 (2018) 3, S.919-931 (13 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Popova, Maia) ORCID (Bretz, Stacey Lowery)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1756-1108
DOI	10.1039/c8rp00063h
Schlagwörter	Undergraduate Students; Organic Chemistry; Knowledge Level; Scientific Concepts; Visual Aids; Visualization; Energy; Qualitative Research; Semi Structured Interviews; Data Interpretation; Science Process Skills; Problem Solving; Coding; Misconceptions; Ohio + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Organische Chemie; Wissensbasis; Anschauungsmaterial; Visualisation; Visualisierung; Energie; Qualitative Forschung; Data evaluation; Datenauswertung; Problemlösen; Codierung; Programmierung; Missverständnis
Abstract	Organic chemistry students struggle with understanding the energetics of chemical reactions. Reaction coordinate diagrams are one tool that is widely used in organic chemistry classrooms to assist students with visualizing and explaining the energy changes that take place throughout a reaction. Thirty-six students enrolled in organic chemistry II participated in a qualitative study that used semi-structured interviews to investigate the extent to which students meaningfully extract and integrate information encoded in reaction coordinate diagrams. Results show that students have difficulties explaining the meanings of surface features such as peaks, valleys, peak height, and peak width. Analysis of students' explanations resulted in four themes that describe students' challenges with correctly interpreting the features of reaction coordinate diagrams. Students conflated transition states and intermediates, despite being able to recite definitions. Students described the chemical species encoded at points along the x-axis of the reaction coordinate diagrams, while largely ignoring the energies of the species encoded along the y-axis. Implications for teaching organic chemistry are discussed. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Royal Society of Chemistry. Thomas Graham House, Science Park, Milton Road, Cambridge, CB4 0WF, UK. Tel: +44-1223 420066; Fax: +44-1223 423623; e-mail: cerp@rsc.org; Web site: http://www.rsc.org/cerp
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01