IDENTIFYING STUDENTS’ MISCONCEPTIONS IN

‘A-LEVEL’ ORGANIC CHEMISTRY

Lim Choon Huat Bryan

Innova Junior College

Abstract

In recent years, research in science education has been focused on identifying and
addressing students’ misconceptions. This is an area of major concern as students’
learning can be seriously impeded if their misconceptions are not dealt with. Though
many students view Organic Chemistry as a topic which relies heavily on memory and
recall, there are actually a number of concepts which students are required to grasp in the
‘A’ level curriculum. The purpose of this research is to identify and analyze junior college
students’ misconceptions related to Organic Chemistry. A detailed study was conducted
on 60 students from a junior college in Singapore, through the use of interviews, test
scripts and an Organic Chemistry Diagnostic Instrument. Some of the misconceptions
were due to misinterpretation of the content found in lecture notes by students, while
others were actually perpetrated by teachers. Identification of these misconceptions
allows teachers to clarify them with the students, as well as to reflect on their own
teaching and pedagogy.

Introduction

One of the main barriers that students encounter as they seek to understand science is
misconception. Teachers can be astonished to learn that despite their best efforts, students
do not grasp fundamental ideas covered in class. Even when some of the best students
give the right answers, they are often only using correctly memorized words. When
probed further, these students reveal their failure to understand the underlying concepts
fully. Students are often able to use algorithms to solve numerical problems without
completely understanding the underlying scientific concept. According to Mazur1,
students in his Physics class had memorized equations and problem-solving skills, but
performed poorly on tests of conceptual understanding. Nakhleh2 conducted studies on
sixty students in an introductory course for chemistry majors. In an exam which paired an
algorithmic problem with a conceptual question on the same topic, only 49% of those
students classified as having high algorithmic ability were able to answer the parallel
conceptual question. Thus, in our role as teachers, besides offering students information
and helpful examples, we must also guide them on the reasoning processes that lead to
algorithms and conceptual generalizations. In many cases students have developed an
ability to provide correct solutions to exam problems and questions most of the time, not
so much via correct reasoning and conceptual understanding, but rather because they
have either come up with generalizations or are familiar with the often-featured questions.
This can have huge implications when they move on to further learning, as the lack of an
appropriate understanding of fundamental concepts from the beginning of their studies
can interfere with subsequent learning.
Students’ misconceptions and learning difficulties in science have been an active area of
3,4,5
research for the past couple of decades. Most of the work dealing with students’
misunderstandings, learning difficulties, and misconceptions in Chemistry has been
focused on relatively “classical” examples, such as the mole concept6,7, chemical
bonding8, entropy9 and chemical equilibrium10. In this paper, the misconceptions and
learning difficulties that students have for ‘A’ level Organic Chemistry are investigated
and presented. Traditionally, organic chemistry has been thought of as too difficult for
beginners, and interviews with students as they learn the topic seems to corroborate this
idea. Due to the lack of curriculum time and the students’ lack of sufficient background in
organic chemistry (from secondary school), teachers often resort to providing students
with generalizations and solutions to problems with little elaboration.

Methods

1) Surveys

During the department’s weekly professional sharing session, a group of Chemistry

teachers gathered to discuss possible misconceptions that students may have in Organic
Chemistry. These misconceptions were gathered from interactions with students during
tutorial lessons and consultation sessions, as well as from student responses in
examinations and assessments. From the list of possible misconceptions, an “Organic
Chemistry Diagnostic Instrument” was developed and administered to students. The
responses of students were then gathered to identify the list of misconceptions that
students have for ‘A’ level Organic Chemistry.

2) Interviews

Interviews were conducted with 30 Junior College Year 2 students to examine their
perception and understanding of Organic Chemistry. Their responses to some questions
in the “Organic Chemistry Diagnostic Instrument” were also clarified and analyzed to
further validate our findings. At the same time, a number of learning difficulties
(conceptual) that students experienced in Organic Chemistry are also identified.

Results and Findings

The list of misconceptions and learning difficulties that we have gleaned from the results
of our diagnostic test and interviews with students are presented as below:

Topic Misconceptions/Learning difficulties

Introduction to In determining the presence of chiral carbon atoms, look for carbon
Organic Chemistry atoms that are bonded to four different atoms.
Introduction to A molecule is considered to be optically active and capable of
Organic Chemistry displaying optical isomerism if it contains at least one chiral carbon
atom.
Introduction to As long as there is a C=C bond with two different groups on each
Organic Chemistry side of the double bond, it can display cis-trans isomerism. Thus, 1-
chloro-2-bromo-cyclohexene can also display cis-trans isomerism.
Hydrocarbons Why are alkenes more reactive than alkanes, in spite of the fact that
double bonds are “stronger” than single bonds?
Hydrocarbons Alkenes can only decolourise bromine in the absence of light. In the
presence of light, alkenes do not decolourise bromine.
Hydrocarbons How does the delocalization of π-electrons in the benzene ring
make it more stable than expected?
Hydrocarbons If the benzene ring is stable, why do arenes still undergo reactions
such as halogenation and nitration?
Hydrocarbons Why does OH activate, and Cl deactivate the aromatic ring towards
electrophilic substitution? Aren’t both groups highly
electronegative and electron-withdrawing?
Hydrocarbons When a 2,4-directing substituent and 3-directing substituent are
both present in an arene and direct an incoming electrophile to
different positions on the benzene ring, how do I know which
position the incoming electrophile will be added to?
Hydroxy Alcohols are alkaline due to the presence of the –OH group.
compounds
Hydroxy Phenols do not show any visible reaction with carboxylic acids
compounds because both are acids, and acids do not react with each other.
Halogen In the addition of HX to an alkene, Markovnikov’s Rule can always
Derivatives be used to predict the addition product.
Halogen The reactivity of alkyl halides towards hydrolysis (reaction with
Derivatives NaOH) is in the order R-F > R-Cl > R-Br > R-I, as the more
electronegative the halogen atom, the more reactive it is.
Carboxylic acid Acid chlorides are more reactive than carboxylic acids towards
derivatives esterification because it is more acidic.
Carboxylic acid All molecules that contain the C=O group should undergo
derivatives nucleophilic addition reactions, as it is unsaturated. Then why don’t
acid chlorides and carboxylic acid undergo nucleophilic addition
reactions?
Carboxylic acid During esterification, condensation occurs as water is produced. An
–OH group is lost from the alcohol, while –H is lost from the
derivatives
carboxylic acid.
Nitrogen An aqueous solution of an amide will have a pH of more than 7 due
Compounds to the presence of the –NH2 substituent.
Amino acids have high melting point and boiling point as they
possess strong intermolecular forces in the form of hydrogen bonds.

Conclusion

Studies conducted on Year 2 students from Innova Junior College revealed that they hold
a number of misconceptions in Organic Chemistry. Some of these misconceptions are
perpetrated by teachers, while some are conceived by students in the form of
generalizations or incorrect ideas as they seek to ingest the huge amount of content.
Teachers should try to include conceptual questions that assess students’ understanding of
the underlying concepts in Organic Chemistry, rather than just set questions that only
require mostly recall and rote learning. They would also do well to pay special attention
to the misconceptions identified in this study, and address them in their teaching and
interactions with students. Some learning difficulties experienced by the students in
Organic Chemistry were also identified, unveiling the need to re-examine our teaching
strategies so as to tackle these learning difficulties.

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