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Abstract
Organic chemistry, by reputation and in practice, is one of the most challenging disciplines for students to master among all undergraduate courses. Students entering organic chemistry are often only in their second year of undergraduate education and are still honing the study and self-assessment skills necessary for success at the college level and beyond. Additionally, the unique combination of analytical skills, translation abilities and precision required to explain how organic compounds behave and interact challenges the reliance on memorization and application of formulae with which students have become accustomed throughout their secondary education pursuits. Therefore, the challenge for organic chemistry instructors is to not only teach concepts related to the discipline but to also aid in the improvement of critical thinking skills, self-regulated learning skills and academic maturity.In the realm of chemical education, abundant research exists exploring the positive impact of active-learning strategies on student motivation and comprehension but these studies often report single instance implementations, either not describing or not exploring long-term instructional impact. Current research promotes the utilization of frequent, interactive assessments of student comprehension and progress to identify learning needs and thereby enrich instruction, but this type of comprehensive and formative assessment is considerably underexplored for undergraduate organic chemistry. The present work describes the demands and advantages of iterative evaluation and analysis of assessment items and contributes comprehensive insight into undergraduate students thought processes when learning and mastering specific organic chemistry concepts. The study began with the development of targeted clicker questions to better convey instructor expectations, more effectively assess student mastery of concepts, and increase the informative value of answer submissions. The information gleaned from this initial effort served to strengthen lecture presentations and motivated the creation of a clicker question repository for continued use in organic chemistry instruction. Formative assessment efforts were furthered by the development of a departmental cumulative final examination and continued analyses of results. The insight gathered in this study informed the development of tutorial and assessment resources that continue to shape instructional efforts in undergraduate organic chemistry at UGA and contribute to a previously underdeveloped area of chemical education research.