Teaching Some Features of Competitive Elimination and Substitution Reactions of Alcohols through a Guided Inquiry Laboratory Activity

In this study, students’ understanding of some important features of competitive elimination and substitution reactions of alcohols was examined based on their participation in a guided inquiry activity of two organic laboratory experiments: the dehydration of cyclohexanol and the conversion of tert-butyl alcohol into tert-butyl chloride. Students performed the experiments comparatively and integrally during the activity. The participants in the study consisted of 29 undergraduate students enrolled in an Organic Chemistry Laboratory I course. At the end of the activity, a written quiz was administered to determine the students’ understanding level. In order to determine their views about the activity, a survey was administered, and 18 students were interviewed. The students’ decisions and justifications about the experimental conditions (acid, concentration, and temperature), the type of reactions, and the driving force in the reactions were determined by analyzing the written quiz. Most of the students made appropriate decisions and justifications. In follow-up interviews, the students reported that overall, they engaged in active learning during the guided inquiry activity, that their learning was permanent, and that they had a positive attitude. The results of the study support the idea that incorporating a conceptual comparison into inquiry activities contributes to student understanding.