Abstract
Students’ overreliance on linear models is well-known and has been investigated empirically in a variety of mathematical subdomains, at distinct educational levels and in different countries. We present a state of the art of students’ overreliance on linearity in economic applications. We illustrate the widespread but sometimes debatable use of linearity in economics, discussing the treatment of demand and supply functions and of the Phillips curve in major economic textbooks. Next, we provide an overview of instances of, and comments on, this phenomenon in the economic education research literature. Typically, the phenomenon is described in the margin of economic studies whose primary focus is elsewhere. Finally, a study having students’ overreliance on linearity as its main research focus is discussed in some detail.
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Van Reeth, D., De Bock, D. (2017). Students’ Overreliance on Linearity in Economic Applications: A State of the Art. In: Stillman, G., Blum, W., Kaiser, G. (eds) Mathematical Modelling and Applications. International Perspectives on the Teaching and Learning of Mathematical Modelling. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62968-1_29
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62968-1_29
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