Math matters: mathematical knowledge plays an essential role in Chinese undergraduates' stock‐and‐flow task performance

Liang Qi and Cleotilde Gonzalez

System Dynamics Review, 2019, vol. 35, issue 3, 208-231

Abstract: People's understanding of accumulation (stock) and of rates of change (flows) is essential to successful decision making in dynamic environments. However, past research suggests that highly educated Western people are often unable to infer the behavior of stock–flow systems. In an empirical study involving a population of university students in China, we tested whether mathematical knowledge, global–local processing and domain experience affect participants' performance in stock–flow tasks. We find that Chinese undergraduates had good performance in general, and individuals with more mathematical knowledge performed better on stock–flow tasks. We discuss the possible reasons that explain these participants' success. Future research needs to extend our work to more diverse populations across different cultures, nations and education systems. Comparative studies on the content of math education under a cross‐cultural frame are desirable to uncover more essential factors for people's understanding of stock–flow structures. © 2019 System Dynamics Society

Date: 2019
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