Running head: THE USE OF SIMULATION IN EDUCATION
The Use of Simulations in Education
Dedrick J. Sims B.S, M.Ed
University of South Alabama
Department of Professional Studies
Mobile, Alabama
Contact Information: Dedrick J. Sims
2532 Legends Row
Mobile, AL 36609
251-751-1602
Abstract
This paper will discuss the benefits of simulation in all aspects of education. With the increased use of technology in the K-12 classroom, simulations have an established and proven platform for use. Simulations have been used successfully in aeronautics in the training of pilots and astronauts, but also in other professions like medicine. The use of simulations allows students to practice abstract concepts in real world context to sharpen skills for near transfer. Studies have shown that simulations help students understand abstract concepts and thus increase academic success.
Running Header: The Use of Simulation in Education
Every day students are not reaching mastery in classes because educators are not accessing all areas of their potential. Students sit through monotone lectures and stale activities that are suppose to engage them and reinforce what was taught. However, for some populations of students that does not happen. What happens is they become disruptive because they are not engaged; many times it is because the method that the teacher is using to engage them does not speak to their learning preference.
The research states that there are multiple learning modalities and there are optimal instructional strategies to activate them and thus engage the student. What is frequently spoken of are the visual, auditory, and tactile learning modalities. For the most part teachers know this fact and make attempts to consider them in their classrooms, but what I have found is that it is the instructional strategies, not knowledge of the concepts, that teachers could improve upon. Much research has been done on effective instructional strategies and it is important that teachers stay abreast of the research.
One instructional strategy, that has been researched extensively, is the use of simulation in the classroom. Simulation is being used successfully in many areas of education. The purpose of this paper is to examine how simulation is used in various areas of study and the benefits of simulations to enrich teaching and learning. In addition, what is the role of the teacher when using simulation in the classroom?
It is thought by some that games and simulations offer tremendous promise to help better increase comprehension and skills in education and training. This current generation of technologically smart students are cognitively sharper and want learning to be fun, engaging, hands-on, challenging, interactive, empowering, and thought provoking. However, many school district and educators continue to think of knowledge and learning in terms of textbooks – sequential, fact-based, and inflexible. Today’s students’ many interests and varied learning styles conflict with traditional textbook-centered classroom instruction, and often result in discipline issues in the classroom. Students need to be continually engaged because they are now accustomed to such a fast-paced world that traditional methods of instruction bore them. This causes them to find other ways to amuse themselves and often plays out as disruption in the classroom.
Simultaneously, the problems facing the world and the workplace are becoming more and more complex. Employers look to find ways employees can be better prepared at schools and universities to deal with today’s distinctive challenges, nationally and globally. Perhaps simulations can encourage competence, creativity and problem-solving through active collaboration, interactions, dialogue, and shared interests between individuals.
The use of simulated activities in education is widely becoming recognized as an important tool in schools of all kinds. Simulation is used in medical training, military training, engineering, flight training, marine simulators and even sales process. Simulation is often the safest and most cost effective way to train in many fields.
Medical schools use simulation to help train surgeons. There are several challenges facing surgical education and training that simulation may help to address. A conceptual framework is required to allow the appropriate application of simulation to a given level and type of surgical skill and this should be driven by educational imperatives and not by technological innovation. Simple simulation is required for core skills training. Cognitive simulation is introduced as a way in which procedural skills training can be achieved. Virtual world simulation opens up significant opportunities for team skills training. A role for simulation in surgical education and training appears assured, but its success will be determined by the extent to which it is integral to high quality curricula, its importance determined by its contribution to both learning and assessment, and its sustainability determined by evidence of its advantages and cost-effectiveness.
Military simulations, also known informally as war games, are simulations in which theories of warfare can be tested and refined without the need for actual hostilities. They exist in many different forms, with varying degrees of realism. In recent times, their scope has widened to include not only military but also political and social factors.
Simulation is an important feature in engineering systems or any system that involves many processes. For example in electrical engineering, delay lines may be used to simulate propagation delay and phase shift caused by an actual transmission line. Similarly, dummy loads may be used to simulate impedance without simulating propagation, and is used in situations where propagation is unwanted. A simulator may imitate only a few of the operations and functions of the unit it simulates. Most engineering simulations entail mathematical modeling and computer assisted investigation.
A flight simulator is used to train pilots on the ground. It permits a pilot to crash his simulated "aircraft" without being hurt. Flight simulators are often used to train pilots to operate aircraft in extremely hazardous situations, such as landings with no engines, or complete electrical or hydraulic failures. The most advanced simulators have high-fidelity visual systems and hydraulic motion systems. The simulator is normally cheaper to operate than a real trainer aircraft.
Marine simulators bear resemblance to flight simulators, marine simulators train ships' personnel. The most common marine simulators include:
- Ship's bridge simulators
- Engine room simulators
- Cargo handling simulators
- Communication / GMDSS simulators
Simulators like these are mostly used within maritime colleges, training institutions and navies. They often consist of a replication of a ships' bridge, with operating desk(s), and a number of screens on which the virtual surroundings are projected.
Simulation is even used in sales process engineering. Simulations are useful in (Enhance students learning, n.d.)modeling the flow of transactions through business processes, such as in the field of, sales process engineering to study and improve the flow of customer orders through various stages of completion (say, from an initial proposal for providing goods/services through order acceptance and installation). Such simulations can help predict the impact of how improvements in methods might impact variability, cost, labor time, and the quantity of transactions at various stages in the process. A full-featured computerized process simulator can be used to depict such models, as can simpler educational demonstrations using spreadsheet software, pennies being transferred between cups based on the roll of a die, or dipping into a tub of colored beads with a scoop.
Just like the many other fields of education, with wraparounds or scaffolds to advance learning outcomes, simulation-based environments also engage young students in the classroom and promote learning. Clark Aldrich defines simulations as tools that facilitate learning through practice in a repeatable, focused environment. Additionally, simulations are safe, flexible, resource efficient, globally accessible when web-based, and effective in helping students develop visual and conceptual models
When designed well, simulations can facilitate students’ learning of both specific domain knowledge and concepts, and several cognitive skills like pattern recognition, decision-making and problem-solving. Simulation could be used to provoke interest, teach domain knowledge, and shore up retention in math, physics, and language arts when specific instructional objectives are targeted.
Here are some things that other researchers have suggested:
· Student effectiveness increases when they are afforded opportunities to contribute to the game design and create new games (Mitchell & Savill-Smith, 2004).
· With realistic games, students not only become smarter and intellectually engaged but also realize their desire for hard fun, delayed gratification, rewards, making right decisions, participation, depth of understanding, challenge, and using their pattern recognition and problem-solving skills (Johnson, 2005).
· Both resource-deprived and resource-affluent students, make significant learning gains after playing well designed games (Herselman, 1999, cited by Mitchell & Savill-Smith, 2004).
· Students’ spatial abilities and cognitive development increases after playing with simulations and games among both genders (Mitchell & Savill-Smith, 2004).
There is more than enough research and data to support the benefits of simulation in education. However, many educators still are apprehensive about using simulation and games in the classroom. Some teachers feel that if technology takes over the classroom and students are engaged in student-centered learning there is no place for the teacher. What is the teacher’s role when incorporating simulation in the classroom?
Very simply, if simulations are to be meaningfully used in the classroom teachers are still the ones who have to design lesson using simulations that meet the following criteria:
· The design of games and simulations should be sophisticated and challenging enough for students to be cognitively engaged with the game.
· The content of games and simulations should be aligned with the standards and viable curriculum in the school or district.
· The logistics and usability of the games should reflect classroom realities and time constraints in the school.
· The feedback and assessments embedded in the games should have measurable learning outcomes.
He/she is ultimately responsible for the content that is used in the classroom and is still required to monitor student’s progress and assist students that still will need the help of a knowledgeable human being.
It is not very difficult to see the numerous benefits of simulation and how it is changing the face of education. No longer can we sit back in a changing world and continue to educate as if nothing has changed. We must do things in a fresh and different way and simulation allows students to have a hands-on experience in a safe and secure environment. It allows them to have the world right up close and in person. It fosters creativity and allows students who may not otherwise have opportunities to experience things out of their own neighborhood to have those necessary experiences. Simulation is not the only way to educate but it is definitely a very valuable way.
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