SIMULAION

SIMULATION

MEANING:

Simulations are a useful teaching strategy for illustrating a complex and changing situation. The Oxford Advanced learners Dictionary explains, “ It is a situation in which a particular set of conditions is created artificially in order to study or experience something that could exist in reality”.

            In a simulation, the learner acts, the simulation reacts, the learner learns from this feedback. Simulation may be defined as a role playing in which the process of teaching is enacted artificially and an effort is made to practise some important skill of communication through this. Under this, the student-teacher and students simulate a particular role and try to develop an identity with the actual classroom environment.

DEFINITION:

R. Wynn(1964): “Simulation is an accurate representation of realistic situation.”

D.R. Cruickshank(1966): “Simulation is the creation of realistic games to be played by participants in order to provide them with life-like problem-solving experiences related to their present or future work.”

W.R. Fritz(1965): “Simulation may be considered as dynamic implementation of a model representing a physical or a mathematical system.”

SIMULATION IN EDUCATION:

            As a teaching technique, it is generally used in management education and training in which a real life situation and values are simulated by substitutes displaying similar characteristics. In teacher education student acts or role play some situation in order to make theory more practically oriented and realistic.

            Examples:        (i) Soldiers engage in mock fighting.

(ii) To perform operations on human beings, doctors are made to learn the operation techniques by experimenting on frogs and rats etc.

SIMULATON IN TEACHER TRAINING:

            Student-teachers are trained in an artificial situation in order to handle the real situation in classroom in a systematic way. Student-teachers are not directly allowed to use school children for practising their teaching skills and modify their teaching behaviours. They are first provided with an artificial situation just like a classroom to achieve the necessary teaching experiences, in which the other teacher trainees or student teachers acts as students. In Simulated teaching, student-teacher plays three important roles: teacher, student and observer. The teacher educator acts as a facilitator for this learning process. The student-teacher and the teacher educator observe the lesson and note down all the good and weak points about the classroom interaction- teaching behaviours, content taught, skills practised and methodology used, etc. After the lesson is over, one free discussion is organised for getting feed back by which the future classroom interaction can be improve.

STEPS IN SIMULATED TEACHING:

            The following steps are usually followed in Simulated Teaching:

                                i.            Orientation of the student-teachers with the concept of simulation, its use in teacher training, steps to be followed in simulated teaching, role of student-teachers as students, teachers and observers and the setting for adopting simulated teaching.

                              ii.            Selection of the specific teaching skills to be practised.

                            iii.            Demonstration lesson by teacher educator.

                            iv.            Formation of groups of student-teachers.

                              v.            Assignment of roles- teacher, student and observer to student-teachers.

                            vi.            Determining the procedure and technique of observation of the classroom interaction.

                          vii.            Delivering the lesson by student-teacher.

                        viii.            Follow up and further modification in the teaching technique.

WHY SIMULATION:

            N.A.Fattu(1966)  gave the following reasons for use of simulation:

                                i.            When an environment cannot be duplicated exactly, then it may be made as realistic as possible.

                              ii.            When a process is to be examined systematically, it may yield information through developing and operating a situation.

                            iii.            When a difficult problem is confronted beyond a teacher’s ability, simulation may help him synthesize and infer a good solution.

                            iv.            The amount of time accomplished is controllable by the simulator.

                              v.            Simulation may also indicate which variables in a complex operation or system are important and how they are related to each other.

                            vi.            Cost may be reduced by simulating rather than by alternative forms of experimenting.

VALUE/ADVANTAGES OF SIMULATION:

Simulation

                                                        i.            Helps to build confidence in the student-teacher.

                                                      ii.            Bridges the gap between the theory and practice.

                                                    iii.            Enables the learner to learn directly from experience.

                                                    iv.            Promotes a high level of critical thinking.

                                                      v.            Simulation game develops in the student-teachers and students an understanding of the decision-making process.

                                                    vi.            Through role playing enables the pupils to empathize with the real life situation.

                                                  vii.            Provides feedback to the learners on the consequences of actions and decisions made.

                                                viii.            Motivates the learners by making real life situations exciting and interesting.

                                                    ix.            Post-simulation analysis enables both the teachers and students to assess the realism of the situation by uncovering misconception.

LIMITATIONS OF SIMULATION:

                                i.            The beginner participants may face some difficulties in clarifying their doubt by asking questions.

                              ii.            During simulation the observer may record incorrectly.

                            iii.            The most common error in serious skill training is the misconception that adults can play the role of pupils.

                            iv.            Simulation attempts to portray real situations in a simple way and which is very difficult.

                              v.            There is a tendency to use the results of a single simulation as the sole basis of generalization.

                            vi.            Commercially developed simulation games are expensive.

ROLE OF THE TEACHER:

                                i.            He plays a relatively non-directive role. Acts as a facilitator.

                              ii.            Keenly observes the teaching of student-teachers.

                            iii.            He guides the students to achieve pre-determined teaching skills.

PRACTICALITIES:

Phase One:  Orientation

-       Explain to your students what simulations are about and for.  (If you mention some common games they play which are simulations, they might start thinking about what real life complex situations the games model, and might learn something about them.)

-       Describe the particular simulation.

-       Ensure the students understand the purpose of the simulation.

-       Outline the rules for the students.

-       Assign roles to the students.

Phase Two:  The Simulation

-       The students participate in the game, playing their roles as assigned.  You, are the coach and referee.  You should stay uninvolved, except when you notice that you can facilitate the educational opportunities the simulation presents.

-       While your students are playing, you could make anecdotal records, or fill in checklists.

Phase Three:  Debrief

For every teaching strategy involving a debrief. There are a number of ways in which debriefs can be done.  Please mix and match the different forms of debriefs you use.

-       Put the students into small groups.

-       Choose three or four learning objectives for the simulation.  Write up these learning objectives as questions for discussion.  One question should be about how the students think the simulation is like the real thing and how it is not like the real thing.  Give each small group of students one question to discuss.

-       Tell the students how much time they have to discuss the questions.

-       Five minutes before the time is up, visit each group with a card which has written on it:  Five minutes until presentation.  “Choose a speaker and write a summary of your discussion for the speaker to present to the class.”

-       An alternative to the above method would be to put groups who have discussed different question together to discuss their different questions and answers.  This way, each group has an opportunity to discuss at least two of the questions.

-       If you use this second method, you could have students write answers to the questions in a learning log instead of having them present to the class.