ARTICLES
Incorporating Digital and Creative Technologies within Chemistry (continued)
Simple addition of functional groups
With a longer list of functional groups than the previous syllabus, creating a range of compounds
with different functional groups becomes a critical part of the teaching of organic chemistry.
Being able to do this quickly is part of the advantage of using ChemSketch. It also works well as
a formative assessment tool. I have used the interface shown in Figure 5, or a variation, to test
rules of nomenclature.
Figure 5 Some examples of functional groups and the short cuts available, note ethene, top
right pointing to its short cut and methanoic acid, centre right, pointing to its functional group
short cut
Students are given sticky notes and asked to write the names of three compounds
whose name they know on the sticky note and stick it next to the structural formula. This
provides a great visual summary of confidence levels, and provides an opportunity to
challenge misconceptions at the critical point where learning is taking place. This is a
very quick way of addressing assessment for learning, defined by Black et al (2004)
as “any assessment for which the first priority in its design and practice is to serve
the purpose of promoting students’ learning” (Black, Harrison, Lee, Marshall, & Wiliam,
2004, p. 10). The incorporation of ChemSketch allows a range of methods to be selected
where the primary purpose is to understand what students already know and to change
what happens in the classroom from that point to specifically meet the needs of the
learners. It is an ideal formative tool for the variation on the 'fast 5' at the start of a lesson.
Lewis structures
Small exploration around the complex interface finds a few other gems which can be
helpful for Chemistry and Biology teachers. One of the templates is a table of Radicals
(Figure 7). A quick click reveals the structure of 21 amino acids, a range of miscellaneous
groups, carbon chains, cycles and more complex functional groups like esters and
amides. Biosequence tools (Figure 6) can also be used to show the structure of amino
acids, chains of amino acids in proteins, and whatever else you, or your students, can
think to construct. There is a lot more to this application that you will probably never use,
but the savings in time are definitely worth the investment.
Figure 1 Biosequence Tools
Figure 6 Biosequence Tools
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SCIENCE EDUCATIONAL NEWS VOL 68 NO 3