Exploring the Synergy of Cognitive Dissonance and Computational Chemistry─A Task Design for Supporting Learning in Organic Chemistry

Abstract

Organic and computational chemistry are increasingly interconnected, with computational methods now being essential for understanding complex reaction mechanisms. Thus, integrating computational chemistry into organic chemistry is crucial for supporting students in arguing with evidence and gaining a deeper understanding of chemical concepts that traditional experimental approaches have struggled to elucidate. This integration of computational methods is now essential in modern organic chemistry and should be introduced to the classrooms of students. An authentic learning experience that uses data from computational chemistry calculations and allows students to make a claim about structure–property relationships can bridge the gap between theoretical and experimental approaches, fostering students’ understanding of chemical concepts and enhancing their problem-solving skills. This study investigates how integrating organic chemical problems into a computational chemistry course can be achieved by a task design that aims to induce cognitive dissonance. In this task design, eight students first build written arguments for the most stable conformation of simple disubstituted ethanes, i.e., 1,2-difluoroethane and 1,2-dichloroethane, followed by computational calculations to verify or revise their arguments. The study examined how cognitive dissonance affects students’ perceived confidence, their written argumentation, and their overall task evaluation. The results indicated that the task design successfully induced cognitive dissonance, leading to a drop in confidence after computational results contradicted students’ arguments. The evaluation revealed that students rated the task design to be cognitively demanding but also to be engaging and beneficial for understanding chemical concepts. The study’s implications emphasize the potential for integrating computational data into organic chemistry as a means to critically evaluate one’s arguments and gain a deeper understanding of chemical phenomena.