Many students are visual learners, and even those who aren’t sometimes have trouble understanding abstract concepts. Many students also think that chemistry is a bit stuffy and boring, but you can teach them otherwise with visual representations. For example, when writing molecules on the whiteboard, try drawing them as cartoon characters. Color code your reducing agents and oxidizing agents and give them funny faces.
You can even take the analogy further and use it to teach concepts like electron delocalization. For example, draw one big money bag to represent a full negative charge on the oxygen in an alkoxide ion. Then, draw two small money bags to represent the oxygen in a carboxylate ion. Discuss how the two small bags each bring one-half negative charge and point out that it’s easier to carry two small bags than one large bag.
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