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Helping Students Master Organic Chemistry through Visual Microlearning

Ellen Ovenden, MSc | Aug 22, 2025
Ellen Ovenden, MSc | Aug 22 2025

When I studied chemistry, I particularly enjoyed organic chemistry because so much of the work felt like straightforward rote learning. Compared to my other courses, it felt manageable to memorize the periodic table, simple reactions, and definitions. I only studied first-year chemistry, so at the time I didn’t realize how much deeper the subject really goes.

Rote learning plays a big role in organic chemistry, especially early on, when students are learning the basics. But memorization alone is not enough. True mastery comes from understanding why reactions proceed one way rather than another, applying principles to predict mechanisms, and solving problems by interpreting data. 

Step-by-Step Learning

In practice, organic chemistry demands both recall and conceptual reasoning. This is where microlearning is valuable. Microlearning is an approach that delivers content in short, targeted segments, each focused on a single idea or skill. 

In STEM education, where students often face dense course materials and abstract concepts, microlearning is particularly useful. Here’s how it can benefit organic chemistry students:

  • 🔷
     Breaks complex topics like reaction mechanisms, stereochemistry, and molecular orbital theory into manageable chunks


  • 🔷
     Supports spaced repetition, reinforcing key ideas such as functional group recognition for better long-term retention


  • 🔷 Offers flexibility, allowing students to fit short lessons into busy schedules and easily revisit content

Together, these benefits make microlearning an effective way to help students not only retain the large amount of material required in organic chemistry, but also apply it with confidence in both assessment and laboratory settings.

Trading the Whiteboard for Video
  • Organic chem 1
  • Organic chem 2
  • Organic chem 3

A key characteristic of microlearning is that it employs engaging formats, often combining narration with visuals like animations or demonstrations. This multimodal approach keeps lessons interesting and boosts retention by presenting ideas through multiple channels at once.

Video supports microlearning in organic chemistry by making abstract processes more tangible through animations that show electron movement, reaction mechanisms, and molecular interactions in real time. Short and focused videos fit naturally with microlearning principles while also bridging theory and practice by showing concepts in action with lab demonstrations. 

Earlier this year, the top issues reported by faculty attending the webinar Teaching Organic Chemistry with Video were time, complexity, and student attention. In the session, Dr. Voltaire Organo, an experienced chemistry instructor from the University of the Philippines, shared how video-based learning can address these challenges. 

He explained that videos help decrease cognitive overload by presenting concepts in a clear, structured way, while also saving valuable class time by reducing the need to constantly draw 3D structures on the whiteboard. Dr. Organo reported that the audiovisual format enhances learning in his students by combining narration with visuals, making abstract ideas more accessible and engaging. He emphasized that his use of video emerged during the pandemic, but it continues to be a valuable tool in his teaching today.

Listen to Dr. Organo speak about how the use of videos has improved his students’ performance:

Challenging Topics Made Clearer

Let’s look at a few specific examples in organic chemistry where short, high-quality videos can help students learn better.

1. SN1 vs. SN2 reaction mechanisms

Students often struggle to distinguish between these two substitution reactions, especially the stepwise vs. concerted nature.

💡 How video helps:

  • ◽ Animations can show electron movement with arrows in real time.
  • ◽ 3D molecular models can rotate to highlight steric hindrance in SN2 reactions.
  • ◽ Side-by-side comparisons let students see reaction speed, intermediates, and stereochemistry outcomes.


2. Distillation

Distillation apparatus is complex, and students often misassemble glassware or confuse the principles of simple and fractional distillation.

💡 How video helps:

  • ◽ Demos can show correct assembly of glassware, including safety considerations.
  • ◽ Animations can show vapor-liquid equilibrium and why fractional distillation gives better separation than simple distillation.
  • ◽ Visuals can compare boiling points and separation efficiency.


3. Hybridization and molecular geometry

Understanding sp, sp², and sp³ orbitals is abstract when only presented in static textbook diagrams.

💡 How video helps:

  • ◽ Animations can morph orbitals from atomic s and p orbitals into hybridized orbitals.
  • ◽ 3D visualizations can show bond angles in tetrahedral vs. trigonal planar vs. linear compounds.
  • ◽ Learners see how geometry changes with hybridization, reinforcing VSEPR theory.


To explore more practical microlearning methods for your organic chemistry course, watch our recent webinar Microlearning Strategies for Organic Chemistry.

Key Takeaways

Organic chemistry can feel overwhelming at first, with its long lists of reactions, rules, and exceptions. But as both students and educators quickly realize, success comes from more than memorization. It’s about transforming isolated details into a clear conceptual framework and applying it with confidence. 

Microlearning, especially when combined with visual resources like animations and demonstrations, provides a powerful way to achieve this balance. By breaking complex ideas into focused, engaging segments, it helps students move beyond rote recall and develop the deeper understanding they need for problem-solving in labs and exams.

As Dr. Organo’s experience shows, video-based microlearning is not just a response to the challenges of teaching remotely, but a lasting strategy for making organic chemistry more accessible, engaging, and effective.

Request a JoVE playlist tailored to your course.

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