Transfer of algebraic and graphical thinking between mathematics and chemistry

Abstract

Students in undergraduate chemistry courses find, as a rule, topics with a strong mathematical basis difficult to master. In this study we investigate whether such mathematically related problems are due to deficiencies in their mathematics foundation or due to the complexity introduced by transfer of mathematics to a new scientific domain. In the investigation we exposed a group of students to a chemistry instrument based on the Nernst equation in electrochemistry, and an equivalent group of students to a similar mathematics instrument in which the questions were stripped of all chemistry context. Both tests contained items requiring algebraic as well as graphical skills. Students experienced few problems with the algebraic questions in both the chemistry and mathematics tests. Their graphical construction and interpretation skills, on the other hand, are inadequate, as can be seen from the poor performance in both the mathematics and the chemistry results of the graphical question. Our conclusion is that the problem seems to lie at the mathematics side and is not due to the transfer of mathematics to an application. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 45: 197–218, 2008.

Cognitive Language and Content Standards: Language Inventory of the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics and the Next Generation Science Standards

“…Unlike the present study, much of the evidence found is primarily situated in the high school or undergraduate mathematics and science contexts (e.g. Brogt, Soutter, Masters, & Lawson, 2014;Bassok & Holyoak, 1989;Hoban et al, 2013;Marrongelle, 2004;Potgieter, Harding, & Engelbrecht, 2008). Frykholm and Glasson (2005) recognize the natural connections, relationships, and overlap between these two areas in the classroom and from their work, they determined that necessary training is needed for teachers to make strategic and deliberate integration of these two subjects.…”

Teachers’ beliefs systems about improving transfer of algebraic skills from mathematics into physics in senior pre-university education

“…Karam, 2014;Potgieter, Harding, & Engelbrecht, 2008;Rebello et al, 2007;Roorda, Goedhart, & Vos, 2015). This study extends the latter, but is different in the sense that it examines belief systems containing an organised set of mutually supportive beliefs (Borg, 2015;Mansour, 2009) about improving transfer of algebraic skills from mathematics into physics.…”

Confronting the Need for Conceptual Change in Pre-Service Science Education

“…This issue has been explored extensively in the literature on transfer and the role of context (Brown, Collins, & Duguid, 1989;Carpenter, 2012;Corte, 2012;Fischer, Bullock, Rotenberg, & Raya, 1993;Lave, 1993;McKeough & Lupart, 1995;Potgieter, Harding, & Engelbrecht, 2008;Rogoff, 1990;Salomon & Perkins, 1989;Willems, 2005). In our case students struggled to recognize whether Archimedes' principle was useful in a new context, and encountered difficulty in following their peers' reasoning as they described how they used the principle.…”