Process and Object in Constructing Material Models of Polynomial Factorization

Designing Learning Materials That Facilitate Connections Between Conjugation and Resonance Jordan C. Axelson, Graduate Student in the College of Chemistry (jcaxelson@berkeley.edu) Project for EDUC 290C Design Based Research Instructor: Dor Abrahamson Objective: Connecting Concepts : To provide a method for undergraduate chemistry students to link and relate the concepts of resonance and conjugation. Background: Visualizing the Invisible : : Chemistry occurs at the sub-­‐microscopic scale. Consequently, chemists have developed various types of external representations in order to visualize the miniscule structures and rationalize the reactivities of the substances that they study. Because external representations provide valuable insight into the invisible world of molecules, they are essential to the teaching and learning of chemistry.1 One representation, a Lewis structure, is commonly used to depict the structure of a molecule by designating each atom with letters and the bonds between atoms as lines between the letters. In certain cases, multiple logical Lewis structures can be drawn to illustrate a single molecule by “pushing” the bonds back and forth between different sets of atoms. In such a case, it is the superposition of all Lewis structures that embodies the true structure of the