about Kevin Burgess

a place for instructors and students of the subject to share ideas

People who teach sophomore organic chemistry for a while come to realize the content is routine but the phycology of how it is presented and learned is harder. Students at this level are trying to master two new skills simultaneously: organic chemistry and how to understand, recall and use it. Too frequently, they are input into large classes necessitating high throughput and combinatorial techniques. Instructors try to cook delicious lectures garnished with informative analogies and a splash of humor, but the dishes can be unappetizing if made repetitively, and if the ingredients are poor; in extreme cases, they cause severe and humiliating discomfort. What then, are the best ways to learn and teach sophomore organic chemistry? What should and should not be emphasized? There is no universal one-size-fits-all solution and no one, particularly me, has all the answers. However, we can all learn from each other and most effectively if student-instructor barriers are minimized on an informal site like this. Anonymity is a blessing to introverts and pop stars, and I am here to initiate and coordinate a place where people can freely express themselves. In fact, the site can only be a success if others comment and suggest. I will start an email update if enough people leave an address, so please considering signing up. Please let me know if you would like to contribute a guest blog or video about your work or anyone else’s. Overall, hang loose, relax, sit back, enjoy the show, but tell us what you think, what you’d like, and how we can all do a better job! We would like to hear from you.

for more information about:

our research, please visit burgessresearch.org
teaching sophomore organic chemistry: sophomoreorganic.org

workbooks I self-publish: byinquisition.org
me personally kevinburgess.org

sign up for email alerts

[contact-form-7 id=”340″ title=”email alerts”]