Speaking of Organic Chemistry: A Faculty Metaphor Analysis in Organic Chemistry Education

Abstract

Organic Chemistry is frequently considered to be a difficult subject. Understanding the factors that contribute to this phenomenon can inform the chemistry education community of what can be done to improve organic chemistry education. This work is part of a larger study focused on student and faculty perceptions of organic chemistry at a large public university in the southeastern United States. Specifically, this paper contains an analysis of metaphors from interviews with faculty members who teach organic chemistry. Over the course of the interviews, the faculty members compared experiences in organic chemistry to learning a new language, practicing an instrument, and organizing clothes. The analysis of these metaphors was based on the Improved Metaphor Analysis (IMA) framework. The connections made by these metaphors gives greater insight into the perspectives of the organic chemistry faculty members as well as possible faculty action research interventions in organic chemistry education. We propose that metaphor analysis can be a powerful and innovative tool to guide professional development and action research initiatives.

Keywords:

• Action research
• faculty perspectives
• metaphor analysis
• professional development
• STEM

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the organic chemistry faculty participants for sharing their perspectives on teaching organic chemistry as well as for participating in the respondent validation of the analyses.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).