Three-dimensional visualization of molecular simulations in virtual reality (VR) is an emerging teaching tool in chemical education. This work describes a VR application which can generate a 3D molecular dynamics (MD) simulation from arbitrary molecular structures and renders that MD simulation trajectory on a VR headset in real-time. This system…

Two key topics of many second-year organic chemistry courses are substitution and elimination reactions. Predicting and explaining substitution and elimination reactions tends to be a challenging task for students, as documented in the research literature. Motivated by the many documented challenges experienced by students when learning these…

The Reaction Coordinate Diagram Inventory (RCDI) has been developed to measure student thinking and confidence with reaction coordinate diagrams (RCDs) and their correspondence to reaction mechanisms. The RCDI was designed using a sequential mixed-methods protocol, such that the questions and distractors in the instrument were generated based on…

The low achievement of chemistry students in Nigerian Colleges of Education has been attributed to a number of factors including a lack of indigenous computer software for enhancing course teaching. This study therefore sought to develop and validate an instructional computer package on organic chemistry for Colleges of Education in Nigeria. The…

An online video library comprising three different types of videos was used intensively by bachelor-level students before and throughout an introductory organic chemistry laboratory course, when presented and assigned to the experiments appropriately. An empirical study (N = 103) revealed that the utilization of videos and preferences for video…

Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) is a small-group, collaborative problem-solving model that has significantly increased student performance in a variety of chemistry undergraduate courses and other STEM courses. Cyber Peer-Led Team Learning (cPLTL), an online adaptation of PLTL, has been effective in general chemistry courses, but this study was the…

Micellar catalysis has become an important aspect of the chemical industry's effort to "go green". However, this chemistry has yet to be fully explored in educational settings such as second-year organic chemistry laboratories. Reported herein is a discovery-based nucleophilic aromatic substitution experiment that introduces chemistry…

Chemistry education research has sought to understand why students struggle in organic chemistry courses. Beyond the volume and difficulty of the material taught in this course, there are also affective factors, such as attitude toward chemistry, that can influence how students perform. Studies have documented cases in which students of…

An introductory organic chemistry course is a gate keeper to the science pipeline. Instructors can improve student learning by making deliberate efforts to understand and accommodate the various levels of classroom diversity. The changes in the demographics of the United States and the national push to cultivate women and minorities in the…

Visually impaired or blind students require adjustments to the traditional hands-on activities and methodological and didactic strategies employed by the teacher. These adaptations are based on multisensory teaching tools, which reinforce the learning of all students in general. This paper presents simple teaching resources that allow students…

The International Network for Chemistry Language Development is a community of faculty and students that employ video conferencing technologies in collaborative learning experiences. Learners partner with an international peer at another university to complete online collaborative assignments (OCAs). OCAs focus on shared learning and professional…

This modular, open-framework capstone course delves deeply into the synthesis, separation, and characterization of chiral molecules while teaching critical thinking and writing skills in a research-like setting within a fertile area for discovery. This course has evolved over 30 years and has been in its present form for 5 years at the time of…

COVID-19 has besieged academic institutions worldwide. As countries closed their international borders and imposed lockdowns, faculty have faced unprecedented challenges in finding alternative modes of teaching and assessment as replacements for the traditional face-to-face classes. In this piece, we describe the journey of the chemistry…

Faculty in the Department of Chemistry and Physics at the University of New England (UNE) have recently transformed introductory and advanced chemistry curricula by embedding the high impact practice of undergraduate research. Course Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) have provided experiential learning opportunities for over 272…

Science is rapidly changing with vast amounts of new information and technologies available. However, traditional instructional formats do not adequately prepare a diverse population of learners who need to evaluate and use knowledge, not simply memorize facts. Moreover, curricular change has been glacially slow. One starting goal for curricular…