Investigating Student Understanding of Chemical Kinetics

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One of the fundamental issues in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education is to better understand the conditions under which students are able to effectively apply knowledge developed in one course or discipline to understand and solve problems in another course or discipline. This Improving Undergraduate STEM Education project will contribute to understandings of how chemistry students integrate their knowledge of mathematics (including algebra, calculus, and graphing) to solve chemistry problems, specifically those related to how fast chemical reactions occur. By observing and analyzing students' problem solving processes through the lenses of mathematics and chemistry and how aspects of the two are blended, the researchers will uncover the ways in which students apply their understanding of mathematics to these chemistry problems, both effectively and ineffectively. The results are expected to provide insights into how to improve undergraduate instruction and student learning of chemistry.To contribute to models of how students apply their understandings of mathematics to solve chemistry problems, researchers at Purdue University will investigate undergraduate students' problem solving in the context of chemical kinetics in a second-semester general chemistry course and a more advanced physical chemistry course for science and engineering majors (not including chemistry majors). Students from each course who agree to participate in the research will be recorded as they think aloud while working on sets of kinetics problems outside of class and answer follow-up interview questions intended to probe their understanding. Guided by a blended-processing framework, transcripts of these sessions will then be coded to find patterns in students' mathematical reasoning, chemical reasoning, and how students blend the two to solve kinetics problems. Classroom observations, as well as analyses of course materials and resources, will provide information about the instructional contexts in which the students learn about chemical kinetics. The project is expected to advance understandings of how students integrate and apply aspects of their mathematical knowledge and chemistry knowledge to solve chemistry problems. The results will also have the potential to inform improvements in chemistry instruction and serve as a foundation for collaborations between chemistry and mathematics faculty.