Spatial ability and its role in organic chemistry: A study of four organic courses

Abstract

The relationship between spatial ability and performance in organic chemistry was studied in four organic chemistry courses designed for students with a variety of majors including agriculture, biology, health sciences, pre‐med, pre‐vet, pharmacy, medicinal chemistry, chemistry, and chemical engineering. Students with high spatial scores did significantly better on questions which required problem solving skills, such as completing a reaction or outlining a multi‐step synthesis, and questions which required students to mentally manipulate two‐dimensional representations of a molecule. Spatial ability was not significant, however, for questions which could be answered by rote memory or by the application of simple algorithms. Students who drew preliminary figures or extra figures when answering questions were more likely to get the correct answer. High spatial ability students were more likely to draw preliminary figures, even for questions that did not explicitly require these drawings. When questions required preliminary or extra figures, low spatial ability students were more likely to draw figures that were incorrect. Low spatial ability students were also more likely to draw structures that were lopsided, ill‐proportioned, and nonsymmetric. The results of this study are interpreted in terms of a model which argues that high spatial ability students are better at the early stages of problem solving described as “understanding” the problem. A model is also discussed which explains why students who draw preliminary or extra figures for questions are more likely to get correct answers.