Changing Pre-university Perceptions in an Undergraduate Inquiry-Based Practical on Electrophilic Aromatic Substitutions

Transitioning from pre-university to undergraduate learning presents many opportunities and challenges. These can be most notable within the laboratory environment, where students often have limited practical chemistry experience. The selection of laboratory practical topics is therefore of high importance to build on students’ theoretical knowledge and practical skills. Electrophilic aromatic substitution reactions are prevalent in pre-university and undergraduate courses; however, students often have preconceptions of organic chemistry based on marking scheme “answers” and have misconceptions created through rote-learning. We present an introductory undergraduate practical where students use a guided-inquiry approach to investigate their own scientific hypotheses on the reaction outcome of an electrophilic aromatic substitution while building foundational practical skills.