A friend is a tenured prof at a local university and teaches the 9 AM organic section. My friend lamented the consumer behavior of students in O-Chem and mentioned getting slaughtered on some internet ratings site. Tenure is not an issue for this prof, but student evaluations are still a big deal.
The question my friend has trouble with is this jewel- “Is this going to be on the test”? This arouses considerable frustration and ill humor. Some profs have no taste for this cat & mouse stuff and will be upfront with what is on the exam. Others are more elusive and Darwinistic. One wonders if these lone standard bearers could have excelled on their own exams when they were in school.
We discussed the possibility of suitable replies that are courteous but firm. There is no need or benefit to a smackdown for insolence. Basically, students need to recognize the main themes of the chapters and answer reasonable questions therefrom. The key is to do the problems. That has always been the key to orgo.
Some have been scornful about “teaching from the book” and supplement their curriculum with content that suits their fancy. I think this is fine for certain upper level coursework. Where this strategy fails is when students need to comprehend the pillars of chemistry for later and more advanced concepts. Then other content becomes a kind of distracting indulgence. Chemistry is vertical.
The problem is that the academic expectations may ratchet up a few notches in college. Students who may be accustomed to getting good grades without too much sweat are often mortally threatened by the prospects of getting less than an A. But this is just a part of the total growth experience and a good prof will be sensitive to this frailty. The trick is to help these students find their own path and go for it.
Lamentations on Chemistry 
Anything in lecture or in the text. Any chapter we have covered. Its all fair game.
Even this relatively low standard is often too much for the little guppies that want to be great whales and have incomes as medical doctors that would make my department (my department! think how many people that is) weep with joy.
But, how to teach this way and not alienate the class? Do it gradually. Appeal to the love of a challenge – every child wants to show how they can jump farther, swim faster. They compete naturally, show them how to use it to their advantage.
Orgo is not too hard – but it requires discipline. Discipline that has to be developed because no one up to now has required it.
Hope to see you soon Gauss. Its been too long.
You’re years ahead of me in this teaching game. I do like the idea of appealing to the love of challenge. “Guppies” is a good analogy.
Good post, Gaussling.
I think emphasizing “doing problems” is key. A lot of students mistake reading the textbook for studying — that’s maybe where studying begins, but certainly not where it should end.
Seems like it was Piaget who said that confusion is the precursor to true learning. It’s all about struggle. Some people interpret struggle with low aptitude and give up too soon. I’ve seen that. Others are not developmentally ready for highly abstract studies at age 19 or 20.
I have to agree here completely. It is fascinating to watch to changes – physical and mental – occurring in these years. Yes, some are already mature enough to appreciate what is presented others have to wait on the second try.
And, the mystery of teaching is where the credit is due. Ultimately, the student masters the material.
If the teacher is the spark – then, the teacher must learn how to excite the student, convince the student it is worth the effort.
There has been a tremendous generational shift. Baby boomers would do what they were told – learn this, ok I’ll do that. This generation is much less so inclined.
Ad a carrot to the stick- an extra credit problem worth 50% of the exam (up to 100% total). Go ahead, crack a textbook during the exam. See how far it gets you. Knowledge can be searched, understanding is a different beast.
An undistorted sp3 tetrahedral carbon atom bears four rigorously identical (including isotopes) freely rotating substituents. Said carbon atom is a chiral center. Draw two general cases and one specific example.
Even the easy stuff is difficult if it requires understanding rather than rote memorization: Two moles of maleic anhydride react with one of benzene. Give the conditions and a possible application of the product.
The important students are those who can demonstrably think. Everything else is mostly covered by Google, and divesity by the garbage can.
I once had a class that demanded true/false questions on the exams. I resisted. A few of the vocal ones stated that it was their right to have a 50 % probability of getting a corect answer by guessing.
So I yielded as such- right answer, 1 pt; no answer, 0 pts; wrong answer, -1 pts. They were furious and complained loudly to the chairman. I just laughed.
Well that’s a common story everywhere. This surely depresses the teaching entity.
my classes always used the 1 / 0 / -1 points for stuff like: pick all the elements with greater electronegativity than Si: B Al F O Ge H Rb
It was possible to get negative points on those questions. . . .
All of my orgo exams were open book, open notes. The department saying was “If you have to open the book or your notes you are in BIG trouble.”