Flipped Classrooms in Organic Chemistry—A Closer Look at Student Reasoning Through Discourse Analysis of a Group Activity

Abstract

Students face various challenges in organic chemistry, including learning complex organic chemistry concepts, applying them to solve problems, and navigating curved arrow notation to depict organic chemistry mechanisms. Given these challenges, many chemistry education practitioners and researchers have focused their efforts on implementing and assessing pedagogical practices that can produce positive outcomes for all students. In this chapter, we describe flipped classroom pedagogy as an evidence-based practice in organic chemistry that has improved student outcomes and addressed learning challenges in the course. We also review key aspects of this practice. In addition, we focus on group activities since they are a common component of flipped classrooms. We will present a case study that analyzes students' reasoning through dialogue when they were engaged in a group quiz activity that was a component of a flipped organic chemistry course. Through the results of this case study, we will make suggestions for how group activities can be implemented to improve students' reasoning skills in organic chemistry.