Enhancing Student Engagement in Argumentation Based on Spectroscopic Evidence: A Focus on ¹H–¹³C HSQC NMR

Student engagement in evidence-based argumentation plays a central role in science education. These skills can be developed when identifying organic molecules from the spectroscopic data. Molecular structural analysis fosters deep procedural knowledge, as it involves (i) flexibly applying a set of procedures to extract information from spectra, (ii) using this evidence to shape a claim about the unknown structure, and (iii) ensuring that the tentative claim aligns with all gathered evidence. In this study, we analyzed how successful first-year undergraduate students are in using procedural resources in the context of mass spectrometry, infrared spectroscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance including one-dimensional 1H NMR and 13C NMR and two-dimensional 1H–13C HSQC spectroscopy. We identified a set of resources that have been successfully deployed by students. The interpretation of 1H–13C HSQC spectra is one of these well-performed tasks. Binary logistic regression led us to conclude that the correct use of 1H–13C HSQC correlations was significantly associated with the students’ success in finding the evidence-based structure as it increased the odds of identifying the unknown compound by a factor of 21.5. This technique was found to be a valuable tool, especially for novice students who are less efficient in finding relevant information compared to expert students. We therefore recommend including the basics of 1H–13C HSQC NMR in the set of spectroscopic techniques taught in undergraduate organic chemistry courses. In addition to helping students identify organic compounds, this can enable instructors to highlight students’ inappropriate assumptions and heuristics.