Simulation-Assisted Learning about a Complex Economic System: Impact on Low- and High-Achieving Students

Jingyuan Fu, Meng Sun and Minhong Wang
Additional contact information
Jingyuan Fu: Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Meng Sun: College of Education for the Future, Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai 519087, China
Minhong Wang: Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 10, 1-17

Abstract: Sustainable learning requires students to develop knowledge and skills for survival in increasingly complex and dynamic environments. The development of systems thinking skills for exploring complex dynamic systems is regarded as crucial to sustainable learning. To facilitate student thinking and learning about complex systems, computer simulations have been widely promoted. However, learning using computer simulations involves complex cognitive processes, which may impose a high level of cognitive demand on learners, especially on low achievers. It remains unclear whether and how high- and low-achieving students may benefit differently from learning with computer simulations. To address the gap, we conducted this study with university students who participated in simulation-assisted learning about the economy as a complex system. The results show that the students developed subject knowledge and systems thinking skills by the end of the study; high-achievers outperformed low-achievers in a subject knowledge test, but there were no significant differences between the two groups in their systems thinking skills, cognitive load, and affective experience. The findings indicate that both low- and high-achieving students can benefit from simulation-assisted learning of a complex system. In addition to developing systems thinking skills, there is a need to help students to improve the construction of their subject knowledge when learning with computer simulations.

Keywords: complex systems; systems thinking; computer simulations; economic education; low- and high-achieving students (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/10/6036/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/10/6036/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:10:p:6036-:d:816689

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().