Perry’s Scheme of Intellectual and Epistemological Development as a framework for describing student difficulties in learning organic chemistry

We have investigated student difficulties with the learning of organic chemistry. Using Perry’s Model of Intellectual Development as a framework revealed that organic chemistry students who function as dualistic thinkers struggle with the complexity of the subject matter. Understanding substitution/elimination reactions and multi-step syntheses is consistent with subsequent epistemological development to Perry’s multiplistic and relativistic stages.