Strengthening conceptual connections in introductory chemistry courses

Both research on learning across a wide range of disciplines and common theories of learning recognize the importance of learning through making connections between new concepts to which one is exposed and existing cognitive structures or schemata. This paper considers examples of underappreciated cognitive connections that our experience has shown can facilitate students' learning of chemistry in the introductory course. The first deals with the question of whether the 'common-ion effect' is limited to discussions of solubility product equilibrium, as many textbooks seem to indicate. The second example questions why certain traditional approaches to teaching the chemistry of conjugate oxidizing agents and reducing agents are not applied to discussions of the chemistry of conjugate Bronsted acids and bases.