Matching Higher-Order Cognitive Skills (HOCS) promotion goals with problem-based laboratory practice in a freshman organic chemistry course

Abstract

The development of students’ higher-order cognitive skills (HOCS) is central to the problem-based component of a freshman organic chemistry course. HOCS within science education is strongly connected to critical thinking (CT) and problem solving (PS), and often manifested by question asking and decision making. The laboratory, if utilized effectively, can be fertile ground for HOCS/PS development and CT advocacy. The ultimate goal is to develop a student culture having a broader, deeper, and more interconnected level of scientific literacy, conceptual understanding, and the contextual applications of knowledge. The concluding 6-hour laboratory session of the course ‘Introduction to Modern Organic Chemistry’ is presented here as an example of problem (not exercise) solving, and is proposed as a model for a ‘HOCS- promoting’—CT/PS-requiring laboratory activity in organic chemistry teaching. [Chem. Educ. Res. Pract., 2007, 8 (2), 153-171]