Using Retrosynthetic Graphic Organizers and Molecule of the Week Activities in Organic Chemistry Tutorials
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Christine M. Le [1] ; Barbora Morra [1]
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[1] University of Toronto
University of Toronto
Canadá
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- Localización: Journal of chemical education, ISSN 0021-9584, Vol. 96, Nº 8, 2019, págs. 1640-1645
- Idioma: inglés
- Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
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Resumen
The tutorials of a second-year undergraduate organic chemistry course have been modified to include a retrosynthetic exercise in conjunction with a Molecule of the Week (MoW) challenge. In contrast to the original tutorial assignments in the course, which primarily focused on completing simple reaction roadmaps, the new tutorials place a heavier emphasis on retrosynthetic analysis and strategic synthetic design. MoW assignments are distributed to students prior to the tutorials, which progressively build on the course material and become more complex as the students’ chemical toolboxes expand over the course of the semester. During each tutorial, students work with a teaching assistant to construct a retrosynthetic graphic organizer (RGO), which is then used to design an optimal synthetic route toward the weekly target molecule. Overall, RGO/MoW tutorials encouraged students to formulate meaningful connections between course concepts. In addition, students who regularly attended these tutorials applied their knowledge toward complex synthetic problems more effectively than students without RGO/MoW experience.
