Creative Exercises (CEs) require students to produce relevant and accurate statements from open-ended prompts. CEs can be used for formative and summative assessment because they are easy to grade. Besides enabling instructors to assess students’ learning, they also reveal misconceptions and connections among concepts within a module and between related modules. CEs in organic chemistry are understudied, and due to the interconnected nature of organic chemistry concepts, CE is a suitable assessment tool for this area. In this study, CE was integrated as a formative assessment tool into two competency-based chemistry modules to explore how learners connect concepts.

A mixed-methods approach was used to analyze polytechnic students’ CE scores and responses to determine if they make conceptual links and to identify common misconceptions. Additionally, the effect of CEs on students’ self-efficacy was investigated using the self-efficacy for learning and performance scale from the Motivation Strategies for Learning Questionnaire. To understand their perception of CEs, qualitative items were included in the survey.

Results showed that students across two modules (n = 54 and n = 58) made relevant and accurate statements during CEs, with high scores (M = 7.69 and M = 8.74 out of 10). Content analysis of the CE statements revealed common misconceptions about the properties and functional groups of organic molecules. Based on the survey results, students found the CEs useful for foundational concepts (M = 5.45, SD = 1.32) but less useful for challenging concepts (M = 4.10, SD = 1.25). Their expectations for success, in terms of obtaining an excellent module grade, were lower (M = 4.37, SD = 1.64). Therefore, CEs can serve as meaningful learning activities and assessment tools to help instructors monitor students’ learning and misconceptions. CEs also act as a self-assessment tool for students, especially in modules that require connecting concepts.