Investigating Student Understanding of Chemical Kinetics

科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)教育的基本问题之一是更好地了解学生能够有效地应用一门课程或学科中的知识来理解和解决另一门课程或学科中的问题的条件。这一改进的本科生STEM教育项目将有助于理解化学学生如何整合他们的数学知识(包括代数、微积分和图形)来解决化学问题，特别是那些与化学反应发生得多快有关的问题。通过观察和分析学生通过数学和化学的镜头解决问题的过程，以及两者是如何融合在一起的，研究人员将揭示学生将他们对数学的理解应用于这些化学问题的方式，无论是有效的还是无效的。普渡大学的研究人员将在第二学期的普通化学课程和更高级的理工科(不包括化学专业)物理化学课程中，调查本科生在化学动力学背景下解决问题的情况。为了帮助建立学生如何应用数学知识解决化学问题的模型，研究结果有望为改善本科教学和学生的化学学习提供参考。每门课程中同意参与研究的学生将被记录下来，他们在课外解决一组动力学问题时大声思考，并回答后续的面试问题，以了解他们的理解。在混合处理框架的指导下，这些课程的成绩单将被编码，以找到学生数学推理、化学推理的模式，以及学生如何将两者结合起来解决动力学问题。课堂观察，以及对课程材料和资源的分析，将提供有关学生学习化学动力学的教学环境的信息。该项目预计将促进学生对如何整合和应用他们的数学知识和化学知识来解决化学问题的理解。这些结果也将有可能为化学教学的改进提供信息，并为化学和数学教师之间的合作奠定基础。

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.