Crucial role of the internalisation of the distinction between dependent and independent variables for clearer chemistry understanding

Mathematics constitutes a fundamental key for the description and understanding of many phenomena. The chemistry discourse incorporates mathematics in various ways and instances. At educational level, interchanges occur in two directions: mathematics provides support for clearer understanding of chemical phenomena, and the level at which students use the relevant mathematics is an indication of the clarity of their conceptual understanding in chemistry. The present work focuses on an issue for which mathematics tightly links to the conceptual understanding of physical terms – the issue of independent and dependent variables. The definition is in principle well known. On the other hand, the distinction between the two types of variables and their roles is not always clearly underlined at explanation level, and is often not sufficiently internalised by students. This results in a variety of misunderstandings and errors. Careful analysis of students’ works enables the identification of errors that can be tracked down to unclear distinction between the dependent and independent variables in a given context; such errors appear in several areas of chemistry, at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. The present work considers and analyses a number of representative examples, highlighting the impact of their unclear distinction and the ensuing importance of devoting specific attention to it. Selected addressing approaches from direct experience are included and their outcomes discussed.