Mathematics is used in the physical sciences to describe and model phenomena, resulting in a unique interface between mathematics and disciplines such as chemistry and physics. This paper focuses on themes emerging from a larger project that investigated how students understand and use mathematics in chemical kinetics, a field of study concerned with monitoring the rate of chemical reactions. The primary data source for this study involved a subset of the data from the larger project, focusing on semi-structured interviews with 40 students sampled from a second-semester general chemistry course. During the interviews students were asked to work through chemical kinetics problems that could be solved without calculations (using relationships between quantities and chemistry principles) or they could be solved algorithmically (using equations and the provided data). The interviews were analyzed using the construct of epistemic games, which describe a collection of resources and an associated structure that define and guide problem-solving and reflect epistemological commitments. Findings indicate students have productive resources and approaches for engaging in problem-solving, reflected by the observed shared set of epistemic games. Implications emphasize the role of scaffolding and explicit questioning to prevent compartmentalization of chemistry and mathematics, suggesting the need for more support to help students productively apply the knowledge and skills learned in mathematics courses to contexts such as chemistry.

中文翻译：

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认识论和认识论游戏在化学中运用数学的作用：对数学教学和本科数学教育研究的启示

物理科学中使用数学来描述和建模现象，从而在数学与化学和物理学等学科之间建立了独特的接口。本文重点关注一个较大的项目中出现的主题，该项目研究了学生如何理解和使用数学中的化学动力学，这是一个与监控化学反应速率有关的研究领域。这项研究的主要数据来源涉及较大项目的数据子集，重点是对来自第二学期普通化学课程的40名学生进行的半结构化访谈。在面试中，要求学生解决化学动力学问题，这些问题可以不用计算即可解决（使用量和化学原理之间的关系），也可以通过算法解决（使用方程式和提供的数据）。使用认知游戏的结构对访谈进行了分析，认知游戏描述了资源的集合以及定义和指导问题解决并反映认识论承诺的相关结构。调查结果表明，学生们拥有解决问题的有效资源和方法，这一点可以通过观察到的共享认知游戏集反映出来。暗示着脚手架和明确询问的作用，以防止化学和数学的分隔，