What are Students' Learning and Experiences in an Online Learning Tool Designed for Cognitive and Metacognitive Skill Development? - Article - Study and Findings Overview

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by jay

Explores how organic chemistry’s representational “language” affects student understanding and communication, and how an open education resource can help learners master it. Introduces OrgChem101, an online bilingual tool providing interactive modules on nomenclature and mechanisms with guided activities, immediate feedback, and built-in metacognitive exercises. Describes the structure and methods of a pilot study measuring students’ learning and experiences using the Organic Mechanisms module, emphasizing principles, module design, and key findings rather than chemistry-specific content.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

AccessFree to download

Background: Organic chemistry as a representational language

The OrgChem101 open education resource

Modules and metacognitive support

Design of the pilot study

Measuring learning and student experiences

Organic nomenclature module (Nomenclature101)

Organic reaction mechanisms module (Organic Mechanisms)

What are Students' Learning and Experiences in an Online Learning Tool Designed for Cognitive and Metacognitive Skill Development? Rebecca Visser and Alison B. Flynn University of Ottawa Organic chemistry has its own representational language and as with any language, any barrier with the language makes understanding the message difficult. In this article, we describe the design of an open education resource that empowers students to master this language. We also describe the structure and findingsofa pilot study designed to measure students' learning and experiences using the module, with a focus on principles, structure, and key findings, rather than on the chemistry-specific elements. La chimie organique possède son propre langage représentatif et, comme dans le cas de la langue, l'existence d'une barrière langagière nuit à la compréhension du message. Dans le présent article, nous décrivons l'élaboration d'une ressource éducative en libre accèsqui donne aux étudiants le pouvoir de maîtriser ce langage. Nous présentons également la structure et les résultats d'une étude pilote visant à mesurer l'apprentissage et l'expérience des étudiants au moyen du module. Pour ce faire, nous nous concentrons sur les principes, la structure et les résultats clés et non pas sur les éléments ayant trait à la chimie en particulier. ave you ever tried to learn a new language? HWhatlanguatgoe?olsHdowid lyoonug udisde ittotalekearnyohatto learn? What challenges did you face? Perhaps you took a course or used an app to help you practice. Maybe you practiced conversing with others in attempts to become more fluent. If it was a language you were somewhat familiar with, you may have been able to learn it more quickly than a language largely different from your own. Organic chemistry has its own language and as with any language, barriers exist that make it difficult to understand a given message. Organic chemistry's language comprises symbols and representations, which communicate the macroscopic level and submicroscopic levels of organic chemistry (Johnstone, 1982, 2000; Taber, 2013; Talanquer, 2011) (Figure 1). The submicroscopic level, which we cannot see through an ordinary light microscope, can be seen through changes of the macroscopic level in chemistry all around us every day (Johnstone, 1982). For example, when we boil water we do not see the individual molecules; however, we can see the visible changes from still water to bubbling water as molecules move from a liquid to gaseous state. Students struggle, however, with organic chemistry's symbolism (Kozma & Russell, 1997) and in order for students to learn organic chemistry concepts, they must learn how to speak and understand the language (Taber, 2009) . Students may struggle to become fluent in organic chemistry's language because of its technical and specialized vocabulary in addition to the symbolism (Bhattacharyya, 2013; Galloway, Stoyanovich, & Flynn, 2017). In this article, we describe an open education resource that empowers students to master this language, the Organic Mechanisms module in [orgchem101.com. We](orgchem101.com. We) also describe the methods and findings of a pilot study designed to measure students' learning and experiences using the module. Figure 1 Chemistry's triplet (Flynn & Featherstone, 2017). [About OrgChem101.com](About OrgChem101.com) [OrgChem101.com](OrgChem101.com) (OrgChem101) is an online, bilingual (English and French) tool created to help students learn organic chemistry's language and core concepts and provide students with the tools to help them better interpret organic reaction mechanisms, as well as improve their metacognitive skill (Azevedo, Behnagh, Duffy, Harley, & Trevors, 2012). OrgChem101 is free for anyone to use and includes three modules: Organic Nomenclature, Organic Mechanisms, and Acid-Base Reactions. OrgChem101 is designed to facilitate learning organic chemistry concepts through guided, interactive activit

FAQs

Why do students struggle with organic chemistry learning?

Organic chemistry uses specialized symbols, representations, and technical vocabulary. Students often have difficulty becoming fluent in this representational language needed to interpret messages and mechanisms.

What is OrgChem101 and what does it offer?

OrgChem101 is a free online bilingual (English and French) tool designed to help students learn organic chemistry’s language and core concepts. It includes modules such as Organic Nomenclature, Organic Mechanisms, and Acid-Base Reactions.

How does OrgChem101 support metacognitive skill development?

Two modules provide immediate feedback and include built-in metacognitive exercises. The learning design helps learners practice at their own pace and rate their abilities during metacognition activities.

What does the pilot study focus on?

The pilot study measures students’ learning and experiences using the Organic Mechanisms module. It highlights principles, module structure, and key findings rather than chemistry-specific elements.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by jay