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  Home > JCE Print > Journal of Chemical Education > Issues > 1998  > April  >
In the Classroom
Mechanism Templates: Lecture Aids for Effective Presentation of Mechanism in Introductory Organic Chemistry
Brian J. McNelis
Santa Clara University, Department of Chemistry, Santa Clara, CA 95053
Cover
April 1998
Vol. 75 No. 4
p. 479
Abstract
To promote active student learning of mechanism in introductory organic chemistry, hand-outs have been developed with incomplete structures for reaction processes depicted, which I call mechanism templates. The key to these lecture aids is to provide only enough detail in the diagram to facilitate notetaking, ensuring that these templates are dynamic learning tools that must be utilized by an engaged and alert student. These templates have proven useful for emphasizing electron bookkeeping, using resonance stabilization in mechanism, illustrating mechanisms with many steps and elucidating unusual mechanisms such as rearrangements. From an assessment of these learning aids, students find that these materials assist in recording mechanistic processes and improve their comprehension of lecture material. These materials were developed to emphasize the value of mechanism in problem-solving using the principles of reactivity. With this approach, the basic tools of problem-solving are presented in a manner that engages the student to think about mechanism, promoting questions and discussion. The purpose of this paper is two-fold: 1) to present the design and use of lecture aids for effective presentation of mechanism in organic chemistry and 2) to present data from a student evaluation of these lecture aids.
More Information
*  Citation
 Brian J. McNelis. J. Chem. Educ. 1998 75 479.
*  Keywords
 Organic Chemistry, Teaching/Learning Theory/Practice, Mechanisms, Teaching/Learning Aids
*  History
 Created:
Last Updated:		 June 25, 1999
June 24, 2005
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