Chemical kinetics is a highly quantitative content area that involves the use of multiple mathematical representations to model processes and is a context that is under-investigated in the literature. This qualitative study explored undergraduate student integration of chemistry and mathematics during problem solving in the context of chemical kinetics. Using semi-structured interviews, participants were asked to make their reasoning and thinking explicit as they described provided equations and as they worked though chemical kinetics problems. Here we describe the results from our study, which included thirty-six general chemistry students, five physical chemistry students, and three chemical engineering students. Analysis and findings are framed in terms of blended processing, a theory from cognitive science that characterizes human knowledge integration. Themes emerged relating to contexts that were commonly discussed when blending occurred. Variation in the depth and directionality of blending was also observed and characterized. Results provide implications for supporting student problem solving and the modeling of chemical processes.

中文翻译：

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使用混合处理框架表征化学动力学中涉及的认知过程†

化学动力学是一个高度定量的内容领域，涉及使用多个数学表示法对过程进行建模，并且是文献中研究不足的背景。这项定性研究探索了大学生在化学动力学背景下解决问题过程中的化学和数学整合。使用半结构化访谈，要求参与者在描述所提供的方程式以及解决化学动力学问题时应将其推理和思想明确化。在这里，我们描述了这项研究的结果，其中包括36名普通化学专业的学生，​​5名物理化学专业的学生和3名化学工程专业的学生。分析和发现以混合处理为框架，来自认知科学的一种理论，其特征是人类知识整合。出现了与融合时通常讨论的上下文有关的主题。还观察到并表征了混合深度和方向性的变化。结果为支持学生解决问题和化学过程建模提供了启示。