Organic Chemistry Educators’ Perspectives on Fundamental Concepts and Misconceptions: An Exploratory Study

An exploratory study was conducted with 23 organic chemistry educators to discover what general chemistry concepts they typically review, the concepts they believe are fundamental to introductory organic chemistry, the topics students find most difficult in the subject, and the misconceptions they observe in undergraduate organic chemistry students. The goal of the study was to generate an exploratory overview of current practice in order to spur discussion on organic chemistry curriculum and to encourage further chemical education research on students’ understandings of organic chemistry concepts. While there were some overlaps, the differences found between participant perspectives are striking. In addition, participant perceptions of fundamental concepts of organic chemistry and the concept guidelines set forth by the ACS are notably different. While a number of chemistry misconceptions were noted by the educators, not all of the participants attempted to identify or were even aware of student misconceptions in organic chemistry.