Some people and personalities of organic chemistry: a teaching hook for mid-level university students

Organic chemistry often represents a key impasse for students during their third level science education. Both intrinsic and extrinsic factors contribute to perceived difficulties in learning the subject. Moreover, the teaching of multi-step organic synthesis at third level has well-documented challenges. At University College Cork (UCC), we have adopted a strategy to engage students at the mid to late degree stage using an innovative teaching hook, to inspire interest and engagement. The approach was taken to outline chronologically some of the seminal breakthroughs in synthesis, and organic chemistry more generally, from the 1950 s to a few of the current leaders of today. Importantly the focus is on the people, the circumstance and the stories surrounding them. As a relevance-based hooking strategy grounded in a storytelling pedagogy, the goal was to inform students of the potential in organic chemistry and thus spark their interest for the subsequent lectures. Over multiple interventions, feedback from students has been highly positive. We posit that the design framework behind the ‘The People and Personalities’ could be adapted to many disciplines in a similarly successful manner. Overall, this approach proved inspirational for students, and was a most timely intervention in their degree program.