LAUSR

Acquiring conceptual understanding seems to be one of the main challenges students face when studying organic chemistry. Traditionally, organic chemistry presents an extensive variety of chemical transformations, which often lead students to recall an organic transformation rather than apply conceptual knowledge. Strong surface level focus and rather weak conceptual knowledge is the consequence. Purposefully designed tasks, which help engaging students to “overlook” the structural features, are proposed here as a means to enhance conceptual understanding and the integration of concepts. Following the idea of contrasting cases, broadly used in science education, and mirroring the epistemic practice of organic chemistry, we illustrate how contrasting cases can be embedded in an inquiry process to highlight the influence of electronic substituent effects on reactive intermediates and rates of organic reactions.