News
2020 Wrap-up
LAB RENOS ARE COMPLETE! FURNITURE PENDING…
Amanda wins a prize at Commonwealth Chemistry – Partnership for the Goals
The inaugural Commonwealth Chemistry Congress in Trinidad and Tobago was postponed until sometime next year, but this summer the Royal Society of Chemistry hosted a virtual poster… Read more “Amanda wins a prize at Commonwealth Chemistry – Partnership for the Goals”
Welcome new group members!
This Fall we have plenty of new faces joining our group! Phung Nguyen, our first graduate student, started her Masters in Chemistry this Fall. We also have… Read more “Welcome new group members!”
Research
chemistry education research
CER is an interdisciplinary field combining chemistry theory,
educational research, and the psychology of learning.
Our group explores three main areas…
Publications: 2019-2020

Building mental models of a reaction mechanism: the influence of static and animated representations, prior knowledge, and spatial ability
Bongers, Beauvoir, Streja, Northoff, Flynn.
Chemistry Education Research and Practice 2020 21 (2), 496-512

Is Learning Scale Free? Chemistry learning increases EEG fractal power and changes the power law exponent
Bongers, Flynn, Northoff.
Neuroscience Research (in press).

Working with mental models to learn and visualize a new reaction mechanism
Bongers, Northoff, Flynn.
Chemistry Education Research and Practice 2019 20 (3), 554-569
Click here for a list of current publications on Amanda’s ORCID page
Publications: 2018 and earlier
- Intermolecular Aminocarbonylation of Alkenes using Concerted Cycloadditions of Iminoisocyanates.
Journal of Organic Chemistry 2017 82(2) 1175-1194 - Synthesis of Cyclic Azomethine Imines by Cycloaddition Reactions of N-Isocyanates and N-Isothiocyanates
Organic letters 2016 18(15), 3778-3781 - Kinetic resolution of azomethine imines by Brønsted acid catalyzed enantioselective reduction
Angewandte Chemie International Edition 2015 54(51), 15516-15519 - Modular Synthesis of Pyrazolones Using an Alkene Aminocarbonylation Reaction
Organic letters 2015 17(14), 3612-3615 - A tunable route for the synthesis of azomethine imines and β-aminocarbonyl compounds from alkenes
Journal of the American Chemical Society 2012 134(39), 16111-16114
Click here for a list of current publications on Amanda’s ORCID page
Team

Dr. Amanda Bongers
Assistant ProfessorLeads the group in studying learning in chemistry and science

Phung Nguyen
M. Sc. Student
Manisha Blaskevitch
B.Sc. Student, Chemistry (Accelerated MSc)Studying multimodal learning and memory in chemistry

Evan Noronha
Con. Ed. B.Sc. Student, 4th yearStudying sustainability in chemistry curricula

James Ingman
Engineering Chemistry B.Sc. Student, 4th year
Sarah Gulycz
B.Sc. Student, ChemistryPlease email Prof. Bongers with your CV if you are interested in joining our group!
Active studies
Recruiting for study “Multi-modal learning of organic reaction mechanisms”
We are looking for undergraduate and graduate students who are (or were) enrolled in chemistry courses at Queen’s to participate in an online research study about learning and memory in chemistry! The study is part of a research project by Prof. Bongers and her research assistant Manisha Blaskevitch, and is not related to the courses in any way. The study takes place online over two sessions, one week apart, for a total of around 1 hour.
Contact Prof. Bongers to sign up!
This study has been approved by the Queen’s General Research Ethics Board (GREB). For more information contact Prof. Bongers. Any questions about ethics can be directed to the GREB at
chair.GREB@queensu.ca