In this study, we investigated how students organized their knowledge about organic chemistry reactions in a transformed curriculum, including their choices, abilities, and changes over time. This transformed curriculum focuses on interpreting the underlying mechanistic patterns of chemical reactions and emphasizes the principles of reactivity in…

Biochemistry primarily focuses on the non-metal chemical elements carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus in the four groups of building blocks (sugars, lipids, amino acids, and nucleotides) and the corresponding macromolecules. However, at least 10 essential chemical elements of life are metals. This article discusses the…

Although chemistry-focused socio-scientific issues support the 'relevance' model of chemistry education, the related literature has lacked any systematic review handling them together. For this reason, this research aimed to thematically synthesize the research papers on chemistry-focused socio scientific issues (SSI) from 2008 to 2020 and…

Developing students' self-study capacity is an urgent task of high schools in the current educational renovation period in Vietnam. This article presents research findings on developing self-study capacity for students through building and organizing teaching activities of 11th-grade organic chemistry project topics according to the blended…

Chemists refer to chemical phenomena on different representational levels--macroscopic, symbolic, and submicroscopic--which are directly related and connected to each other. Especially in the laboratory, students have to reason about various mechanistic features at the submicroscopic level and connect them in a meaningful way to make sense of the…

Scientific writing is related to the practice of communicating scientific knowledge. This study treats scientific writing as a social practice, taking as its premise the notion that participating in related activities such as reading, peer evaluation, and discussion would positively affect the competence of students' scientific writing, by…

The debate on the use of pesticides is very current in the public media when it comes to topics such as organic farming, bee mortality, and the use of glyphosate. The broad range of pesticide applications and their potential environmental impact makes pesticides an interesting topic for science education in general and for chemistry teaching in…

Freshmen and sophomores in college are historically at risk of disengaging with general and organic chemistry courses, performing poorly and not continuing in STEM. Utility value (UV) interventions, though, have increased the achievement and retention of low-performing students in psychology and introductory biology courses. In this study, a…

Peer-led team learning (PLTL) is a pedagogical method in which former students, i.e., those who have successfully completed the course, assist current students in learning course material either through supplemental instruction or in the classroom setting. The impact on student learning for students participating in a PLTL course is widely…

Providing students with timely, targeted, and useful feedback regarding their understanding of course topics is generally accepted as a good educational practice. However, when classes are very large there are challenges that prevent many instructors from accomplishing this goal. This study explores the perceived helpfulness to students and the…

"N"-Formamides are important intermediates in the synthesis of many pharmacologically active compounds and are used as protecting groups for amines or as catalysts in different reactions. The current "N"-formylation experiment is designed as a part of an introductory organic chemistry course for undergraduate students. The…

Spatial reasoning is a valuable cognitive tool which enables navigation of the body in relation to other objects in space, permits deconstruction of dimensional forms, allows reconstruction of two-dimensional representations into three-dimensional objects, and facilitates diagramming of processes or concepts. A considerable body of work has…

Science education at the postsecondary level is essential to building a foundation for increasing support, participation, and interest in STEM occupations and careers. This current study uses a phenomenological approach to explore the lived experiences and perspectives of eight post-secondary science majors while enrolled in a university 200-level…

This study sought to determine the levels of conceptual understanding of undergraduate students regarding organic compounds within different functional groups. A total of 60 students who were enrolled in the Department of Secondary Science and Mathematics Education of a Faculty of Education at a state university in Turkey and who had followed an…

The impact of polymeric materials on the well-being of citizens of the modern world is enormous. These materials enhance virtually every facet of life--from clothing and personal care items to housing and transportation. Yet despite this, and the fact that most chemists work in a polymer or polymer-related area, polymeric materials have…