Organic Chemistry

For the 2013-14 academic year I am teaching Organic Chemistry as a blended class at The Meadows School in Las Vegas.  All the students who enrolled in the class are seniors.  Since organic chemistry has both a lecture and laboratory component, I have chosen an initial structure of having the students work collaboratively in our Student Learning Center on Tuesday’s and Thursday’s.  On the other three days, the students come to a traditional classroom where we do laboratory activities and we discuss what they learned and how it integrates with prior knowledge.

The class has the following fixed resources:

1.   Khan Academy videos on Organic Chemistry

2.   Mastering Chemistry Website containing an e-text and a study area

3.   Marvin Sketch software for drawing molecular structures

4.   Myself as a coach to guide and encourage them through personal and/or group discussions and as a ‘provider and director’ to other instructional materials such as Brain Genie, other internet videos and problem sets.

As with any new endeavor, the first week or so of the course followed the principles set forth by Murphy’s Law. In spite of these issues (most of which were technology related), the students were excited to work in this modality which they felt would better prepare them for college.  They were and continue to be collaborative in their efforts.

In the very beginning, we skipped around in the Khan videos in order to review material which lays the foundation for organic.  Now we are moving through defined sections for the videos in the sequencing suggested by Khan Academy.  I have found that the review material was an effective mechanism of review for the students and I will keep you updated in the mastery of new material as we progress.