Mechanistic reasoning, defined as "systematic reasoning about the underlying factors and relationships that give rise to the phenomenon to explain how and why it occurs ," is the central problem-solving skill in organic chemistry to explain reactivity. Morrison and Boyd introduced electron-pushing formalisms (EPFs) in 1959 to enhance mechanistic reasoning skills in organic chemistry. Although EPFs were intended to aid students in reasoning, research has shown that students memorize EPFs. Research has also supported the idea that students have challenges understanding the logic of writing EPFs . Specifically, EPFs are written to represent the lowest energy pathways. Coupling reaction coordinate diagrams (RCDs) with EPFs has been proposed as an approach to provide a multi-dimensional perspective about chemical reactions , with the limitation that students may not understand what reaction coordinate diagrams represent as well .