scholarly journals Utilizing Rasch analysis to establish the psychometric properties of a concept inventory on concepts important for developing proficiency in organic reaction mechanisms

2019 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sachin Nedungadi ◽  
Sue H. Paek ◽  
Corina E. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Organic Chemistry ◽  
Reaction Mechanisms ◽  
Rasch Analysis ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Validity And Reliability ◽  
Organic Reaction ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Chemistry Students ◽  
Organic Reaction Mechanisms

AbstractUndergraduate organic chemistry has been found to be historically difficult for students and one area where students struggle is organic reaction mechanisms. The difficulties students face with reaction mechanisms has been a source of interest in chemical education research but most studies done have been purely qualitative. An assessment tool that could be used on a large-scale for instructors to gauge the difficulties their students face, would be useful. The aim of this pilot study is to use Rasch analysis to establish the validity and reliability of the concepts important for developing proficiency in organic reaction mechanisms inventory (RMCPI). The test, containing 25 items, was administered to first semester organic chemistry students (N = 44) at a mid-sized university. The data was analyzed using Rasch techniques to explore the dimensionality of the instrument, the difficulty of the items, the item fit, and the reliability. The results indicate that the instrument is unidimensional and most of the items fit well to the dichotomous Rasch model. The test was found to be difficult and this will be explored further by increasing the sample size, administering the test to students from other universities and increasing the number of items on the inventory.

scholarly journals Development and psychometric analysis of an inventory of fundamental concepts for understanding organic reaction mechanisms

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sachin Nedungadi ◽  
Michael D. Mosher ◽  
Sue Hyeon Paek ◽  
Richard M. Hyslop ◽  
Corina E. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Organic Chemistry ◽  
Reaction Mechanisms ◽  
Test Theory ◽  
Psychometric Analysis ◽  
Validity And Reliability ◽  
Organic Reaction ◽  
First Semester ◽  
Chemistry Students ◽  
Alternate Conceptions ◽  
Organic Reaction Mechanisms

Abstract The fundamental concepts for organic reaction mechanisms inventory (FC-ORMI) is a multiple-choice instrument designed to assess students’ conception of fundamental concepts for understanding organic reaction mechanisms. The concepts were identified from open-ended interviews and a national survey of organic chemistry instructors reported in a previous study. This manuscript describes the development of the inventory items related to these identified concepts and the psychometric analysis of the instrument. In the developmental stage, open-ended questions were administered to first-semester organic chemistry students (N = 138), and open-ended interviews were conducted with students (N = 22) from the same pool to gain insight into their thought processes. The answers revealed alternate conceptions which were used to formulate distractors for the inventory. A pilot version and a beta version of the inventory were administered to 105 and 359 first-semester organic chemistry students, respectively. From these administrations, the 26-item alpha version was developed and administered to first-semester undergraduate organic chemistry students (N = 753). Psychometric analysis was conducted at the item and test level using Classical Test Theory and Rasch analysis. The results indicate that the items on the FC-ORMI function well to reveal students’ alternate conceptions. The instrument meets the acceptable standards of validity and reliability for concept inventories.

scholarly journals Thinking like an electron: concepts pertinent to developing proficiency in organic reaction mechanisms

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sachin Nedungadi ◽  
Corina E. Brown
Keyword(s):  
Organic Chemistry ◽  
Reaction Mechanisms ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Phase 1 ◽  
Concept Inventory ◽  
Organic Reaction ◽  
General Consensus ◽  
Large Scale Assessment ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Organic Reaction Mechanisms

AbstractThe difficulties students face with organic reaction mechanisms have been the subject of much research in chemical education however, no concept inventory has been reported in this area. The development of a concept inventory would be useful for the large-scale assessment of students’ understanding of concepts pertinent to developing proficiency in reaction mechanisms. The first step in the design of such an inventory is identifying the pertinent concepts. In phase 1 of this study, open-ended interviews were carried out with organic chemistry instructors (N = 11) in order to ascertain their opinions on pertinent concepts for developing proficiency in reaction mechanisms. Phase 2 of the study consisted of a national survey of organic chemistry instructors (N = 183) to explore the general consensus regarding the concepts identified in phase 1. The results yielded 10 concepts identified by experts to be pertinent to reaction mechanisms. The general consensus among organic chemistry instructors is that the topic of reaction mechanisms is important to the study of organic chemistry, but students have difficulty understanding the meaning of the curved-arrow notation. Future work will include the design and development of a concept inventory based on these pertinent concepts.

scholarly journals Investigating students understanding of organic reaction mechanisms from performing organic chemistry experiments

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nimesh Mistry ◽  
Stephen Nicholson
Keyword(s):  
Organic Chemistry ◽  
Reaction Mechanisms ◽  
Practical Work ◽  
Laboratory Work ◽  
Scientific Concepts ◽  
Organic Reaction ◽  
Student Reflections ◽  
Organic Reaction Mechanisms

The use of laboratory work to improve students’ knowledge of theory is one that is disputed. Student reflections of what they learn during practical work repeatedly show that students rarely think about theory. There is a lack of data that objectively compares students’ knowledge of theory where they complete an associated experiment to when they do not in order to understand if practical work does effect students’ knowledge of scientific concepts. In this work we aimed to address this gap by investigating the effect of students’ knowledge of organic mechanisms where they both perform and associated experiment and where they did not. Our results showed that organic chemistry experiments had no effect on students’ knowledge of organic mechanisms. These results support the view that there is little evidence to support the use of laboratory work to aid understanding of theory.

scholarly journals Exploring the Perception of Chemistry Students at Kulliyyah of Science in Learning Organic Chemistry

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 6-30
Author(s):  
Nurul Nadiah Rosly ◽  
Shafida Abd Hamid ◽  
Nor Azlina A. Rahman
Keyword(s):  
Organic Chemistry ◽  
Reaction Mechanisms ◽  
Difficulty Level ◽  
Teaching Approaches ◽  
High Failure Rate ◽  
Organic Reaction ◽  
Reaction Type ◽  
Chemistry Students

Students perceive organic chemistry as a challenging subject for them to learn and master, which results in a high failure rate. This study investigates the perception of chemistry students of the Department of Chemistry, Kulliyyah of Science at International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), on organic chemistry courses and identify the topics that the students found difficult to grasp, which may affect their grades. The correlation of students’ perception on the difficulty level in studying organic chemistry subjects (I and II) with the grades obtained for both courses, and the correlation of the type of study attitude with the grades achieved for Organic Chemistry I and II, were also investigated. From the data analysis of questionnaires distributed to 160 respondents, stereochemistry (n = 58.8 %), determination of reaction type (n = 59.4 %), construction of the reaction mechanisms (n = 73.2 %), and characterisation of organic reaction (n = 77.5 %), were the topics that the students perceived to be difficult. Perception on the difficulty in studying organic chemistry was positively associated with the achievement of excellent grades for both organic chemistry subjects (I; rs = 0.413**, p<0.01 and II; rs = 0.436**, p<0.01). Quality of study attitude shows no association with the grades obtained for organic chemistry I (rs = 0.330**, p = 1.00) but positively associated with grades of organic chemistry II subject (rs = 0.140, p<0.01). This study could serve as a reference for lecturers to search for ways to design appropriate teaching approaches for better learning experiences.

Physical organic chemistry in Canada 1900–2005

2005 ◽  
Vol 83 (9) ◽  
pp. 1197-1201
Author(s):  
Thomas T Tidwell
Keyword(s):  
Organic Chemistry ◽  
Free Radicals ◽  
Reaction Mechanisms ◽  
Physical Organic Chemistry ◽  
Organic Reaction ◽  
Physical Organic ◽  
History Of ◽  
Organic Reaction Mechanisms

Some of the history of the development of physical organic chemistry in Canada from the 1920s is presented, including many of the individuals involved, and their major areas of interest.Key words: history of physical organic chemistry in Canada, organic reaction mechanisms, free radicals, kinetics.

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