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.

Students often use study groups to prepare for class or exams; yet to date, we know very little about how these groups actually function. This study looked at the ways in which undergraduate organic chemistry students prepared for exams through self-initiated study groups. We sought to characterize the methods of social regulation, levels of content processing, and types of reasoning processes used by students within their groups. Our analysis showed that groups engaged in predominantly three types of interactions when discussing chemistry content: co-construction, teaching, and tutoring. Although each group engaged in each of these types of interactions at some point, their prevalence varied between groups and group members. Our analysis suggests that the types of interactions that were most common depended on the relative content knowledge of the group members as well as on the difficulty of the tasks in which they were engaged. Additionally, we were interested in characterizing the reasoning methods used by students within their study groups. We found that students used a combination of three content-relevant methods of reasoning: model-based reasoning, case-based reasoning, or rule-based reasoning, in conjunction with one chemically-irrelevant method of reasoning: symbol-based reasoning. The most common way for groups to reason was to use rules, whereas the least common way was for students to work from a model. In general, student reasoning correlated strongly to the subject matter to which students were paying attention, and was only weakly related to student interactions. Overall, results from this study may help instructors to construct appropriate tasks to guide what and how students study outside of the classroom. We found that students had a decidedly strategic approach in their study groups, relying heavily on material provided by their instructors, and using the reasoning strategies that resulted in the lowest levels of content processing. We suggest that instructors create more opportunities for students to explore model-based reasoning, and to create opportunities for students to be able to co-construct in a collaborative manner within the context of their organic chemistry course.

The undergraduate organic chemistry course is a prerequisite course for many students who plan to pursue careers in chemistry and chemical engineering. It also serves those students who wish to pursue professional careers in medicine, dentistry, and veterinary sciences. Previous research on student learning in organic chemistry shows that students struggle to understand ideas such as acid-base reactions and structure-property relationships which are foundational concepts on which more complex concepts are built. Furthermore, the typical organic chemistry course emphasizes students use of the electron-pushing formalism to represent how bonds are formed and broken in chemical reactions. Expert organic chemists use this formalism to represent predicted reaction mechanisms that explain the formation of products. Numerous studies have characterized student difficulties using electron-pushing mechanisms in an expert-like way as well as associating underlying chemical principle with the representations. We suggest that deep understanding of chemical reactions and their underlying chemical principles can be developed by engaging students in causal mechanistic explanation as part of a transformed organic chemistry course that emphasizes students using their knowledge of electrostatics, structure-property relationships, and energy to engage in explanation of chemical phenomena. Our goal is to engage students in as specific type of explanation called in casual mechanistic explanation which includes reasoning about the underlying causal factors in conjunction with the underlying entities and their activities that bring the phenomenon about. The studies reported here use a qualitative approach to elicit student' written explanations and drawn reaction mechanisms for various chemical reactions. Students were sampled at multiple time points over the course of their two-semester organic course to investigate how student reasoning changes overtime. Students participants were enrolled in either the beforementioned transformed organic chemistry course or were enrolled in an untransformed course that we refer to as the traditional context. This traditional context served as a control group for which to compare possible changes in reasoning for students enrolled in the transformed course sequence. Findings suggest that student engagement in causal mechanistic reasoning varies depending on students' general chemistry and organic chemistry course experience as well as the nature of the prompt eliciting the reasoning. Findings also suggest that students are generally capable of drawing mechanistic arrows that would generally be considered correct, however triangulating student reasoning with a detailed analysis of students' drawings, we found that typical organic chemistry assessment items that lack a reasoning component may overestimate student understanding. Our investigations also revealed student difficulties invoking the correct nucleophilic substitution process for a given reaction. Students often invoked an SN1 mechanistic process incorrectly, despite their engagement in casual mechanistic reasoning. Implications of these findings for organic chemistry instruction and assessment are discussed along with implications for future research.

DIGITAL UPDATE available for Fall 2020 classes The Pearson eText and Mastering(TM) have been updated to provide new author-written content that focuses students on understanding nomenclature, mechanisms, and reaction summaries. For courses in Organic Chemistry (2-Semester) Engage students in complex problem solving with unparalleled pedagogy Wade & Simek's Organic Chemistry focuses students on the fundamental reasoning and principles of organic chemistry without compromising the conceptual underpinnings and clear explanations needed to prevent memorization. The authors' hallmark student-oriented approach to problem-solving directs students to the individual steps of each reaction, shows how the steps contribute to the overall reaction, and incorporates unique strategies and hints. Organized around functional groups, the text incorporates complete discussions of mechanisms. The two-tiered approach to Mechanism and Key Mechanism Boxes concentrates on 20 Key Mechanisms that comprise nearly all of the mechanisms students will encounter. Pearson eText allows educators to easily share their own notes with students so they see the connection between their reading and what they learn in class -- motivating them to keep reading, and keep learning. Portable access lets students study on the go, even offline. And, student usage analytics offer insight into how students use the eText, helping educators tailor their instruction. NOTE: This ISBN is for the Pearson eText access card. For students purchasing this product from an online retailer, Pearson eText is a fully digital delivery of Pearson content and should only be purchased when required by your instructor. In addition to your purchase, you will need a course invite link, provided by your instructor, to register for and use Pearson eText.

The Solutions Manual provides step-by-step solutions guiding the student through the reasoning behind each problem in the text. There is also a self-test section at the end of each chapter which is designed to assess the student’s mastery of the material.

NOTE You are purchasing a standalone product; MasteringChemistry does not come packaged with this content. If you would like to purchase both the physical text and MasteringChemistry search for 032196747X / 9780321967473 Essential Organic Chemistry 3/e Plus MasteringChemistry with eText -- Access Card Package: The access card package consists of: 0321937716 / 9780321937711 Essential Organic Chemistry 3/e0133857972 / 9780133857979 MasteringChemistry with PearsonKey Benefits: MasteringChemistry should only be purchased when required by an instructor." For one-term Courses in Organic Chemistry. " A comprehensive, problem-solving approach for the brief Organic Chemistry course. Modern and thorough revisions to the streamlined, " Essential Organic Chemistry f"ocus on developing students' problem solving and analytical reasoning skills throughout organic chemistry. Organized around reaction similarities and rich with contemporary biochemical connections, Bruice's Third Edition discourages memorization and encourages students to be mindful of the fundamental reasoning behind organic reactivity: electrophiles react with nucleophiles. Developed to support a diverse student audience studying organic chemistry for the first and only time, Essentials fosters an understanding of the principles of organic structure and reaction mechanisms, encourages skill development through new Tutorial Spreads and emphasizes bioorganic processes. Contemporary and rigorous, Essentials addresses the skills needed for the 2015 MCAT and serves both pre-med and biology majors. Also Available with MasteringChemistry(R) This title is also available with MasteringChemistry - the leading online homework, tutorial, and assessment system, designed to improve results by engaging students before, during, and after class with powerful content. Instructors ensure students arrive ready to learn by assigning educationally effective content before class, and encourage critical thinking and retention with in-class resources such as Learning Catalytics(TM). Students can further master concepts after class through traditional and adaptive homework assignments that provide hints and answer-specific feedback. The Mastering gradebook records scores for all automatically graded assignments in one place, while diagnostic tools give instructors access to rich data to assess student understanding and misconceptions. MasteringChemistry brings learning full circle by continuously adapting to each student and making learning more personal than ever--before, during, and after class.

Essentials of Organic Chemistry is an accessible introduction to the subject for students of Pharmacy, Medicinal Chemistry and Biological Chemistry. Designed to provide a thorough grounding in fundamental chemical principles, the book focuses on key elements of organic chemistry and carefully chosen material is illustrated with the extensive use of pharmaceutical and biochemical examples. In order to establish links and similarities the book places prominence on principles and deductive reasoning with cross-referencing. This informal text also places the main emphasis on understanding and predicting reactivity rather than synthetic methodology as well as utilising a mechanism based layout and featuring annotated schemes to reduce the need for textual explanations. * tailored specifically to the needs of students of Pharmacy Medical Chemistry and Biological Chemistry * numerous pharmaceutical and biochemical examples * mechanism based layout * focus on principles and deductive reasoning This will be an invaluable reference for students of Pharmacy Medicinal and Biological Chemistry.