A Guided Inquiry Approach to Organic Chemistry

通过购置常规的气相色谱仪/质谱仪，用于化学专业、医学预科和非理科专业的课程，提高了本科生在科学过程中的教育质量。仪器的主要使用是在两个学期的有机化学课程。不是先在课堂上学习反应细节，然后在实验室进行验证，而是首先引导学生预测主要反应产物(通常基于分子力学计算的结果)，进行反应(代表在课堂上介绍的反应，而不是机理细节)，并观察产物形成的趋势。在大多数情况下，每个学生在略有不同的条件下进行实验；教师将课堂结果汇集在一起，并通过计算机投影系统显示。学生以小组形式参与对其结果的分析和讨论，以制定和测试合理的机制。在这种“发现”的方法中，仪器的使用促进了学生对有机化学研究的真正参与，提高了学生对该学科的兴趣，从而更好地吸引和留住了化学专业的学生。学校对这个项目的贡献相当于国家科学基金会的资金。

The quality of undergraduate education in the scientific process has been enhanced through the acquisition of routine gas chromatograph/mass spectrometers for use in courses which service chemistry majors, premedical students and non-science majors. The primary us of the instrumentation is in the two semester organic chemistry course. Instead of first learning reaction details in lecture with subsequent verification in the laboratory, students are first guided to predict major reaction products (often based on results from molecular mechanics calculations), conduct the reaction (representative of that introduced in lecture without mechanistic detail) and observe trends in product formation. In most instances, each student executes experiments under slightly different conditions; the class results are pooled and displayed with a computer projection system by the instructor. Students participate as a group in the analysis and discussion of their results to formulate and test plausible mechanisms. Utilization of instrumentation in this "discovery" approach promotes true student involvement in the study of organic chemistry, increases interest in the discipline and thus betters chances of attracting and retaining chemistry majors. The school contributed to this project in an amount equal to the NSF funds.