> But the rules have many, many exceptions, which students find maddening. The same molecule will behave differently in acid or base, in dark or sunlight, in heat or cold, or if you sprinkle magic orgo dust on it and turn around three times. You can’t memorize all the possible answers — you have to rely on intuition, generalizing from specific examples. This skill, far more than the details of every reaction, may actually be useful for medicine.
Ignoring the specifics about Organic Chemistry, this skill, relying on intuition and generalizing from specific examples, is the skill of Pattern Recognition.
Regardless of the subject, you can't memorize all of the possible permutations and combinations, but you can start to get a feel for the patterns and begin to recognize them. Then when you encounter something new, you can recognize the pattern, or enough of the pattern to have a place to start.
Think about things you do on a day-to-day basis and how you react to a new situation. You just signed up for a new service and you get your first bill in the mail - you've never seen this bill, but it fits the pattern of every other service you use and you already know how to pay it. Now apply that same concept to something more complex than paying a bill.
I'd love to see a course like this in every field of study since pattern recognition is a skill that everyone has but so few seem to do really well.
Ignoring the specifics about Organic Chemistry, this skill, relying on intuition and generalizing from specific examples, is the skill of Pattern Recognition.
Regardless of the subject, you can't memorize all of the possible permutations and combinations, but you can start to get a feel for the patterns and begin to recognize them. Then when you encounter something new, you can recognize the pattern, or enough of the pattern to have a place to start.
Think about things you do on a day-to-day basis and how you react to a new situation. You just signed up for a new service and you get your first bill in the mail - you've never seen this bill, but it fits the pattern of every other service you use and you already know how to pay it. Now apply that same concept to something more complex than paying a bill.
I'd love to see a course like this in every field of study since pattern recognition is a skill that everyone has but so few seem to do really well.