Flash cards are a popular device for learning organic chemistry. Why don't I like them? I have been trying to think how I can conceptualize my negativity to them. After all, I used them to learn German in high school, what is different?
Let’s try these examples:
This is long-division-lite. You can change the number of zeros needed to get the right answer without learning long division. If your chemistry professor does not believe you would be able to learn a reaction mechanism, they may simplify the problems, for example, use problems that are very similar to practice problems. (This may lead students to say, “This isn’t anything like my book or the lecture”. That is, the student isn’t recognizing the similarity.)
Lets try these examples:
I do not doubt that you could make flash cards and memorize these examples. That would be okay if they were the only long division problems you would have. The problem I have with flash cards is that they are a memorization device. I consider memorization is often used in lieu of understanding. This is my question, "Have you learned long division by memorizing the results?" Of course not, then why would you use flash cards for organic chemistry? The key to learning long division is the process in between the problem and the solution. It is the same with organic chemistry.
Memorizing the products of reactions does not teach you the process by which they form. In class, I began to expect that students who used flash cards would score lower than those that just learned mechanisms. Flash cards may be fast and easy, but they didn't follow my thinking of how our brains learn the language of organic chemistry. Mechanisms contain a chemical logIc between starting materials and products.