Dec 16, 2008 - Claremont, Calif. - A student-directed approach to teaching synthetic organic chemistry developed by David Vosburg, HMC assistant professor of chemistry, was featured in the November issue of the Journal of Chemical Education.

Rather than the traditional lecture and homework problems scenario, students enrolled in the Chem 171: Advanced Organic Chemistry: Synthesis course encounter chemical reactions in the context of landmark syntheses of key biological molecules through group and individual presentations.

“I had taught this course before, and it was fine, but it wasn’t amazing,” said Vosburg. “Then I taught it this way and it was like ‘Wow!’ In the end, the students were really amazed at what they had accomplished.”

In teams, the students first examine pairs of syntheses of related or identical molecules to appreciate synthetic strategy and then write short creative papers to compare the synthetic routes. The student teams present key elements of each synthesis to the class, encouraging discussion and responding to online questions from their fellow classmates in the course. The course culminates in oral and written proposals—crafted as one would write a grant proposal to, say, the National Science Foundation—for novel syntheses of student-selected molecules.

Having used variants of this student-directed approach for three semesters now, Vosburg’s course evaluation feedback from the students proves the method to be a success.

“Having students teach the course was a great idea,” wrote one student. “It gave us the chance to critically analyze complex and relevant syntheses by ourselves and not be lectured on it; so much more exciting to do it this way, both an intellectual challenge and personal challenge for each presenter to show their mastery of the material! Don’t change it too much! This was by far the coolest course I’ve taken.”