Students in introductory chemistry classes typically appreciate seeing the connection between course content and the “real world”. For this reason, we are developing a series of interactive web-based case studies relating chemistry to current topics in sports and fitness. These case studies will be introduced by scenarios and accompanied by tutorials explaining fundamental concepts, providing students with the tools necessary to evaluate controversial situations. Our philosophy for the use of case studies is to create a scaffold for students to experience the process of science and build connections—rather than simply absorb facts about chemistry. This approach is particularly useful for topics such as stereochemistry, which many organic chemistry students find difficult. Students can gain an appreciation of chirality and stereoisomerism by examining the structures of two familiar compounds: ephedrine and pseudoephedrine. Students in the second semester of a general, organic, and biological chemistry course wrote about recent controversies involving either ephedrine or pseudoephedrine, compared and contrasted the two compounds, and asserted whether the compounds should be regulated in the same way. As a result, students were able both to appreciate the subtle difference between ephedrine and pseudoephedrine and to retain this information for the final exam.
Back to Symposia: Chemical Education - Rethinking Organic Chemistry
Back to The 33rd Northeast Regional Meeting (July 14-17, 2005)