Organic Chemistry and Problem Based Learning

Organic chemistry lecture courses are traditionally among the high failure rate courses in collegiate curricula across the nation. During the spring semester of 2014, we developed an “early warning” protocol for organic chemistry II lecture in which students thought to be at risk of failure were referred to the college advising center for remediation during the first week of classes. This project is a continuation of that effort in which we instituted this early warning system for organic chemistry I lecture. In our early warning protocol, a competency exam was administered during week one where the exam encompassed material from general chemistry I and II lecture that were deemed to be particularly relevant topics to organic chemistry instruction. Students with poor performances on this exam were strongly urged to seek advice from the college academic adviser and the lecturer and also enroll into a weekly recitation session (CHEM 224) so that their deficiencies could be addressed and confidence in the course material developed. The passing rate of CHEM 224-enrolled students were compared to that of non-224 enrolled students for courses offered in the fall of 2014 and spring of 2015.