Simulations in the classroom: An innovative active learning experience
Walters, B., Potetz, J., & Fedesco, H.
Clinical Simulation in Nursing, 13(12), 609-615.
Background: Simulation is a common active learning strategy. Although simulation is popular for its effectiveness in the clinical setting, its use in the classroom has been underreported. This article describes classroom activities using simulation and explores its impact on student knowledge and perceptions.
Methods: Third-year baccalaureate nursing students enrolled in an adult health alterations course participated in the study. Classroom simulations were performed in a lecture hall and were designed to engage students in the transfer of theory to practice. Semesters with and without the inclusion of simulations were compared.
Results: Students enrolled in semesters that included simulations performed better on quizzes and the
first examination and perceived the learning environment to be more student centered, felt more autonomous, competent and connected to the class, and were more motivated.
Conclusion : Incorporating simulations in the classroom can be an effective way to improve student knowledge and perceptions of the learning environment.
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19 Classroom Activities To Increase Student Understanding Of Poverty
February 23, 2023 // by Monique de Villiers
As educators, it’s important to address the issue of poverty with our students. However, helping them truly grasp the complex nature of this global problem can be difficult to do. That’s where poverty simulation activities come in.
Engaging your students in hands-on activities that simulate the experience of living in poverty can help them develop empathy and understanding toward those who are less fortunate. See our list of 19 poverty simulation classroom activity ideas to increase student understanding of poverty.
1. Do All Children Have Sweet Dreams
This lesson teaches elementary school students about needs and wants, using examples from around the world. Helping them understand that while everyone has the same basic needs, such as a safe environment, for example, wants to vary depending on circumstances.
Learn More: HREUSA.org
2. Concern America’s 2023 Walk Out of Poverty
This poverty awareness walk is a global activity that helps students raise awareness of the realities of poverty in their communities. In this activity, classrooms are asked to walk around their local community if they can’t make it to the event in person.
Learn More: Event Brite
3. Poverty in America
This poverty simulation activity helps students understand how poverty is measured. Students will be asked to give a percentage of Americans they think are living in poverty. Students can then gain a better understanding of how poverty is defined, and how it has changed and increased over time.
Learn More: KQED.org
4. What Is Poverty And Who Are The Poor?
By engaging in search activities, students can gain a deeper understanding of the nature and extent of poverty worldwide. This activity provides powerful tools for exploring poverty and the various sources of information available on the topic.
Learn More: FTE.org
5. What’s Going On? Poverty in America
This activity provides students with an overview of homelessness; exploring the underlying causes and ethical considerations surrounding society’s treatment of the poor. Gaining a deeper understanding of the devastating impact of poverty helps students develop a greater awareness of others’ daily struggles.
Learn More: Social Studies
6. Poverty Simulation Game
SPENT is an online simulation game that helps students understand the challenges faced by people living in poverty. In this game, students are given a limited budget and asked to make decisions about how to spend it- without any access to credit cards.
Learn More: White Noise Lab
7. Canned Food Scavenger Hunt
This practical activity involves your students searching for non-perishable food items around the house or community to donate to a local food bank or shelter. This way, they learn about poverty all while taking community action and providing community services.
Learn More: Seed Bed
8. The Dynamics of Poverty
Students are asked to take on the role of a person living in poverty and make decisions about how to manage their limited resources. Through this role-playing activity, students can gain a better understanding of how to show empathy and support to those in need.
Learn More: Stairway to SDG
9. The Privilege Walk
A privilege walk helps students identify the privileges that they are fortunate enough to have in their lives. By taking steps forward or backward based on prompts, students can see how their experiences differ. This activity highlights how systemic inequalities and barriers can impact individuals and communities.
Learn More: Experiences Canada
10. Videos About Poverty
Watching videos about poverty can be a powerful way for students to learn about the realities of the world around them and the historical context around the situations. It can help them develop empathy and understanding for those who are struggling with poverty and motivate them to take action.
Learn More: Rebekah Gienapp
11. Poverty Quiz Worksheet
In this quiz, students are asked to answer various questions about poverty, its causes, and its effects. Through this activity, your students will practice reading and comprehension, explaining information, and remembering core details they have learned- all while learning about socioeconomic status!
Learn More: Study.com
12. The Puzzle of Poverty
In this lesson, a comprehensive method for addressing poverty is presented. This involves identifying the necessary resources and values to support the flourishing of communities. Arrange students into small groups; each with a puzzle set. Some pieces from each puzzle set should be removed.
Learn More: World Vision Philanthropy
13. Global Poverty Learning Day
This resource provides everything needed to host a global poverty learning day for students in years 9 to 13. Students will learn about global poverty, identify issues that interest them, and prepare a plan of action as a group to raise awareness and influence decision-makers.
Learn More: Oxfam Library
14. The Poverty Game Show
This poverty game show is an interactive activity that helps school students understand the complexities of poverty. In this Jeopardy-style game, students are asked to answer questions about various aspects of poverty. This is an engaging way to educate your learners.
Learn More: USCCB.org
15. Create A Video For Awareness
One of the best ways to teach learners is by helping them take community action. Students of this day and age will best know how to do this through one of their privileged resources- the internet and creating video content. Encourage them to drive awareness by creating an awareness video.
16. Volunteer At The Homeless Shelter
If your students are old enough, it may be worth considering spending the day with them volunteering at a homeless shelter. You could take various angles with this excursion, however, it would be opportune to teach them about food stamps and the value of supporting social services.
17. BROKE! The Board Game
This board game simulates the stressful and challenging experience of attempting to overcome poverty. The game is designed to be simple to set up and can be played in approximately 45 minutes. It’s sold at cost and encourages players to expand their perspectives.
Learn More: The Game Crafter
18. Hit Your Local Food Joints And Grocery Stores
Take your students to visit the local grocery store and food joints to help them learn the true value of food. Have your students note down the prices of essential foods, and upon returning to class, do an activity illustrating the minimum wage to put things in perspective about income versus expenses.
19. Low-Income Community Tour
Older students may benefit from participating in a low-income community tour in their area. Be sure to work with a professional and safe tour company to keep your students safe and the tour educational. Try to encourage your students to bring along items to donate to the community they visit.
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Interactive Classroom Activities
Students learn through their participation in the attainment of knowledge by gathering information and processing it by solving problems and articulating what they have discovered. Each activity below provides students with opportunities to deepen their learning by applying concepts and articulating new knowledge and many of these activities also provide the instructor feedback about the students’ learning.
Entry/Exit Tickets
Entry & Exit tickets are short prompts that provide instructors with a quick student diagnostic. These exercises can be collected on 3”x5” cards, small pieces of paper, or online through a survey or course management system.
- Entry tickets focus student attention on the day’s topic or ask students to recall background knowledge relevant to the day’s lesson: e.g., “Based on the readings for class today, what is your understanding of ___________?”
- Exit tickets collect feedback on students’ understanding at the end of a class and provide the students with an opportunity to reflect on what they have learned. They can be helpful in prompting the student to begin to synthesize and integrate the information gained during a class period. For example, a muddiest point prompt: “What was the muddiest point in today’s class?” or “What questions do you still have about today’s lecture?”.
Advantages of entrance and exit tickets include: participation of each student, prompt for students to focus on key concepts and ideas, a high return of information for the amount of time invested, important feedback for the instructor that can be useful to guide teaching decisions (e.g., course pacing, quick clarification of small misunderstandings, identification of student interests and questions).
Free Writing/Minute Paper/Question of the Day Exercise
These are activities that prompt students to write a response to an open question and can be done at any time during a class. Writing activities are usually 1-2 minutes, and can focus on key questions and ideas or ask students to make predictions. These activities give students the opportunity to organize their own thoughts, or can be collected by the teacher to gain feedback from the students. Advantages include developing students’ abilities to think holistically and critically, and improving their writing skills.
Ice Breakers
Ice Breakers are low-stakes activities that get students to interact and talk to each other, and encourage subsequent classroom interactions. They can be useful at the beginning of the semester: for example, asking students to introduce themselves to each other and what they would like to learn in the course. Advantages of icebreakers include: participation of each student, the creation of a sense of community and focusing students’ attention on material that will be covered during the class period.
Think–Pair–Share
This type of activity first asks students to consider a question on their own, and then provides an opportunity for students to discuss it in pairs, and finally together with the whole class. The success of these activities depends on the nature of the questions posed. This activity works ideally with questions to encourage deeper thinking, problem-solving, and/or critical analysis. The group discussions are critical as they allow students to articulate their thought processes.
The procedure is as follows:
- Pose a question, usually by writing it on the board or projecting it.
- Have students consider the question on their own (1 – 2 min).
- Then allow the students form groups of 2-3 people.
- Next, have students discuss the question with their partner and share their ideas and/or contrasting opinions (3 min).
- Re-group as a whole class and solicit responses from some or all of the pairs (3 min).
Advantages of the think-pair-share include the engagement of all students in the classroom (particularly the opportunity to give voice to quieter students who might have difficulty sharing in a larger group), quick feedback for the instructor (e.g., the revelation of student misconceptions), encouragement and support for higher levels of thinking of the students.
Case Studies and Problem-Based Learning
Case studies are scenarios that apply concepts learned in class to a “real-life” situation. They are usually presented in narrative form and often involve problem-solving, links to course readings or source materials, and discussions by groups of students, or the entire class. Usually, case studies are most effective if they are presented sequentially, so that students receive additional information as the case unfolds, and can continue to analyze or critique the situation/problem.
Guiding questions lead students through the activity. The questions should be designed to develop student’s critical thinking by asking students to distinguish between fact and assumptions, and critically analyze both the process they take in solving the case study as well as the solution itself. Example questions include:
- What is the situation? What questions do you have?
- What problem(s) need to be solved? What are some solution strategies? Evaluate pros/cons and underlying assumptions of these strategies.
- What information do you need? Where/how could you find it?
- What criteria will you use to evaluate your solution?
There are many collections of case studies publically available in a variety of disciplines.
Problem-based learning activities are similar to case studies but usually focus on quantitative problems. In some cases the problems are designed to introduce the material as well as provide students with a deeper learning opportunity.
The advantages of problem-based learning activities and case studies include developing students problem solving and decision making skills, develop student’s critical thinking skills encouraging critical reflection and enabling the appreciation of ambiguity in situations.
Engaging in collaborative discourse and argumentation enhances student’s conceptual understandings and refines their reasoning abilities. Stage a debate exploiting an arguable divide in the day’s materials. Give teams time to prepare, and then put them into argument with a team focused on representing an opposing viewpoint. Advantages include practice in using the language of the discipline and crafting evidence-based reasoning in their arguments.
Interview or Role Play
Members of the class take the part or perspective of historical figures, authors, or other characters and must interact from their perspective. Breakdown the role play into specific tasks to keep students organized and to structure them so that the content you want to cover is addressed. Preparation work can be assigned for outside of class, so clearly communicating your expectations is essential. Advantages include motivation to solve a problem or to resolve a conflict for the character, providing a new perspective through which students can explore or understand an issue and the development of skills, such as writing, leadership, coordination, collaboration and research.
Interactive Demonstrations
Interactive demonstrations can be used in lectures to demonstrate the application of a concept, a skill, or to act out a process. The exercise should not be passive; you should plan and structure your demonstration to incorporate opportunities for students to reflect and analyze the process.
- Introduce the goal and description of the demonstration.
- Have students think-pair-share (see above) to discuss what they predict may happen, or to analyze the situation at hand (“pre-demonstration” state or situation).
- Conduct the demonstration.
- Students discuss and analyze the outcome (either in pairs/small groups, or as a whole class), based on their initial predictions/interpretations.
Advantages of interactive demonstrations include novel visualizations of the material and allowing students to probe their own understanding by asking if they can predict the outcome of the demo. They are also a venue for providing applications of ideas or concepts.
A Jigsaw is a cooperative active learning exercise where students are grouped into teams to solve a problem or analyze a reading. These can be done in one of two ways – either each team works on completing a different portion of the assignment and then contributes their knowledge to the class as a whole, or within each group, one student is assigned to a portion of the assignment (the jigsaw comes from the bringing together the various ideas at the end of the activity to produce a solution to the problem). In a jigsaw the activity must be divided into several equal parts, each of which is necessary to solving a problem, or answering a question. Example activities include implementing experiments, small research projects, analyzing and comparing datasets, and working with professional literature. The advantages of the jigsaw include the ability to explore substantive problems or readings, the engagement of all students with the material and in the process of working together, learning from each other, and sharing and critical analyzing a diversity of ideas.
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Assessing the Risk of Invasive Species Using Community Science Data part of Project EDDIE:Teaching Materials:Modules This module introduces students who are already familiar with GIS to doing comparative analyses with large-scale community science (often called citizen science) data sets. Students will explore how we can use ... On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection. Learn more about this review process.
Part 2: Field work planning & investigation part of Mapping the Environment with Sensory Perception In Part 2 of this unit, student groups will plan and execute the field collection of sensory data (scents and/or sounds) using previously developed data collection protocols. The advantage of using sensory data is ... InTeGrate Developed This material was developed and reviewed through the InTeGrate curricular materials development process. Learn more about this review process.
Using Ecological Forecasts to Guide Decision Making part of Project EDDIE:Teaching Materials:Modules Because of increased variability in populations, communities, and ecosystems due to land use and climate change, there is a pressing need to know the future state of ecological systems across space and time. ... On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection. Learn more about this review process.
Bomb Cyclones - They're Explosive! part of Project EDDIE:Teaching Materials:Modules Storms can have devastating impacts on coastal communities. Typically, tropical storms like hurricanes get the most attention, but there are other types of storms that occur at more northern latitudes that can be ... On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection. Learn more about this review process.
Unit 2: Global Sea-Level Response to Temperature Changes: Temperature and Altimetry Data part of Understanding Our Changing Climate What is the contribution of seawater thermal expansion to recent sea-level rise? In this unit, students create time-series graphs of global averaged sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) data spanning 1880–2017 ... On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection. Learn more about this review process. GETSI Developed This material was developed and reviewed through the GETSI curricular materials development process. Learn more about this review process.
Unit 6. Rainwater Harvesting part of Water Sustainability in Cities Unit 6 covers the preliminary design of a rainwater harvesting unit. Pre-class assignments provide background on rainwater harvesting. An active learning exercise steps student teams through the process of sizing a ... On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection. Learn more about this review process. InTeGrate Developed This material was developed and reviewed through the InTeGrate curricular materials development process. Learn more about this review process.
Unit 5: Sensory Map Development part of Mapping the Environment with Sensory Perception In this unit, student groups will use sensory data (scents and/or sounds) collected in the field to create maps of the sensory environment and relate their findings to larger environmental problems identified in ... On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection. Learn more about this review process. InTeGrate Developed This material was developed and reviewed through the InTeGrate curricular materials development process. Learn more about this review process.
Unit 4: Case Study Analysis part of Mapping the Environment with Sensory Perception In this unit, student groups will evaluate different environmental case studies to critically investigate qualitative and quantitative data analysis, collection, and inquiry. Students will begin to consider ... On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection. Learn more about this review process. InTeGrate Developed This material was developed and reviewed through the InTeGrate curricular materials development process. Learn more about this review process.
Unit 2. Urban Hydrology part of Water Sustainability in Cities Unit 2 engages students in topics related to the water cycle, both from natural and urban system perspectives. Students are assigned approximately 30 minutes of reading (short article) and are required to watch a ... InTeGrate Developed This material was developed and reviewed through the InTeGrate curricular materials development process. Learn more about this review process.
Unit 3: Crops and Irrigation Patterns in the United States part of Water, Agriculture, Sustainability This unit is designed to allow students to quantitatively assess how much water is used for irrigating crops and how this varies across the United States. This unit also has students link water use to the economic ... On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection. Learn more about this review process. InTeGrate Developed This material was developed and reviewed through the InTeGrate curricular materials development process. Learn more about this review process.
Lake Mixing Module part of Project EDDIE:Teaching Materials:Modules Stratified lakes exhibit vertical gradients in organisms, nutrients, and oxygen, which have important implications for ecosystem structure and functioning. Mixing disrupts these gradients by redistributing these ... On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection. Learn more about this review process.
Unit 3: Soil Investigation and Classification part of Soils, Systems, and Society In this unit, students work in small groups to collect and record data about soils using various soil testing and classification methods at a series of stations. The methods they use are relevant to the societal ... On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection. Learn more about this review process. InTeGrate Developed This material was developed and reviewed through the InTeGrate curricular materials development process. Learn more about this review process.
Unit 3 Hazards at Divergent Plate Boundaries part of Living on the Edge Students work in small groups to examine data and videos of earthquakes, submarine volcanic eruptions, and black smokers at submarine divergent plate boundaries, and then predict similar processes at subaerial ... On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection. Learn more about this review process. InTeGrate Developed This material was developed and reviewed through the InTeGrate curricular materials development process. Learn more about this review process.
Case Study 3.1 - Predicting Patterns: What Does La Niña Look Like? part of Climate of Change This activity is designed to allow students who have been exposed to the El Niño-Southern Oscillation to analyze the La Niña mechanism and predict its outcomes. Students create an SST map for La Niña and both ... InTeGrate Developed This material was developed and reviewed through the InTeGrate curricular materials development process. Learn more about this review process. CLEAN Selected This activity has been selected for inclusion in the CLEAN collection. Learn more about this review process.
Unit 3: Geologic Record of Past Climate part of Carbon, Climate, and Energy Resources Students will be introduced to a few of the different methods used in paleoclimatology, including isotopic ratios as paleotemperature proxies. They will investigate the greenhouse gas connections of two ancient ... On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection. Learn more about this review process. InTeGrate Developed This material was developed and reviewed through the InTeGrate curricular materials development process. Learn more about this review process.
Unit 6.1 - Biogeochemical Modeling Framework part of Critical Zone Science In this unit, students will learn about the dynamic movement of nutrients among and within ecosystems primarily through the reading and discussion of scientific literature. This unit is generally subdivided into ... On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection. Learn more about this review process. InTeGrate Developed This material was developed and reviewed through the InTeGrate curricular materials development process. Learn more about this review process.
Nutrient Load Module part of Data and Model Driven Hydrology Education:Units Estimating nutrient loads is a critical concept for students studying water quality in a variety of environmental settings. Many of these students will be asked to assess the impacts of a proposed anthropogenic ... On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection. Learn more about this review process.
Unit 5: Circulation in the atmosphere - a map and cross section based jigsaw part of Earths Thermostat In this optional activity, students analyze maps of wind patterns from three levels in the atmosphere in order to infer global atmospheric circulation patterns and their role in balancing the radiation budget they ... On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection. Learn more about this review process. InTeGrate Developed This material was developed and reviewed through the InTeGrate curricular materials development process. Learn more about this review process.
Module 5: Some Modern Biotic Responses to Climate Change part of Neotoma:Teaching Activities In this module, students explore biotic responses to changing climate. The module steps through different styles of response (i.e. stasis, adaptation, extinction) and provides examples of each from modern biota. Students are given a set of exercises where they create a hypothesis for future mammal distribution changes. Part of the Neotoma Education Modules for Biotic Response to Climate Change. On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection. Learn more about this review process.
Nutrient Loading Module part of Project EDDIE:Teaching Materials:Modules Estimating nutrient loads is a critical concept for students studying water quality in a variety of environmental settings. Many STEM/Environmental science students will be asked to assess the impacts of a proposed anthropogenic activities on human water resources and/or ecosystems as part of their future careers. This module engages students in exploring factors contributing to the actual loads of nitrogen that are transmitted down streams. Nitrogen is a key water quality contaminant contributing to surface water quality issues in fresh, salt, and estuarine environments. Students will utilize real-time nitrate data from the US Geological Survey to calculate nitrate loads for several locations and investigate the interplay of concentration and discharge that contributes to calculated loads. On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Collection This activity is part of the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Activities collection. Learn more about this review process.
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10 Activities and Nursing Games for Students to Stimulate Learning
Fundamentals of Nursing authors Barbara L. Yoost, MSN, RN, CNS, CNE, ANEF, and Lynne R. Crawford, MSN, RN, MBA, CNE, share 10 ideas for infusing classroom activities for nursing students into your lessons.
- Patient Teaching Pamphlets Creating sample patient scenarios is a great way to incorporate active learning into nursing and healthcare classes. Create a sample patient that has an illness or injury related to what you’re currently covering in class. Then ask each student to develop an educational pamphlet, flyer, or mini-brochure for that patient. Make sure students cover all the necessary information in their pamphlet such as: risk factors; signs and symptoms; when to call the primary care provider; treatments; prevention strategies; and online and community resources for further information. Encourage students to be creative with the design and writing of the piece to make the information engaging and understandable for the patient.
- Ace® Wrap Relay Exercises Divide the class into teams (2-4 teams depending on size of classroom and number of available patient mannequins or body parts). In the relay, each member of a team takes a turn at wrapping and unwrapping a specific body part of a “patient.” The actual ace bandage serves as the baton as it is handed from one team member to the next. The team that finishes all of their wrappings effectively, in the fastest amount of time, wins. You may decide to have each student complete their bandage wrapping on the same body part for the same problem (e.g., every student performs a wrap on an amputation below the knee), or you can vary the body parts, problems, and wrap style depending on the relay round (e.g., student one from each team does a figure 8 wrap on a right leg with edema, student two does a spiral wrap on a sprained left ankle, and so on). For an extra challenge, have each student assess the wrapped extremity for circulation, sensation, and movement. You can even have students document their care electronically before moving on to enhance this particular active learning exercise .
- Creating NCLEX® Exam Questions Break students into pairs and have them write 10 different NCLEX exam-style questions on a specific nursing concept or class topic. Make sure students include a variety of wrong responses along with the correct answer. Then have students present their questions and response options. After classmates vote on which answer is correct, have the presenting pair reveal the correct answer and explain their rationales for both the right and wrong responses.
- O2 Bingo Introduce your class to O2 Bingo by creating bingo boards with oxygenation terms (think oximetry, CPAP, hypoxia, etc.). Then ask students questions and have them mark the answer on their boards. The bingo game can also be developed to cover a variety of different nursing concepts and related exemplars. For a creative end-of-the-year review idea, have each of your students develop their own bingo cards and questions surrounding a specific nursing concept. Then have the entire class play a round of bingo to review the concept.
- Creating Medication Commercials Divide students into groups of two or three and have them write and perform medication commercials. You can have the entire class cover the same medication or have each group cover something different. After each group performs their commercial, have the class compare and discuss what they experience in the clinical area versus what they read about in research.
- Unfolding Case Studies Bring the subject to the center of your classroom by incorporating unfolding case studies into your active learning lesson. Start off by providing basic assessment data on a patient. As the class progresses, continue to reveal more information about that patient and their disease/disorder. Make sure students have their smartphones, tablets, or laptops on hand to reference medication, diagnostic testing, and care planning point-of-care software.
- Reading Reflections Assign a particular section of the text to read for homework. Then at the beginning of the next class, have students write down: 1.) three things they learned from the reading, 2.) one way that learning might affect them in clinical practice, and 3.) one question they hope to have answered today in class. Have students hand in their written reflections, and then discuss the various takeaways as a class. Ask students to help answer their classmates’ questions from the reading. This short active learning exercise is a great way to ensure students complete the assigned reading ahead of time.
- The Sensory Deprivation Experience When covering nursing concepts such as functional ability or sensory perception, have students take turns experiencing the blind or deaf patient’s point of view during simulation or a classroom activity by having the student wear a blindfold or earplugs respectively. Afterwards, have students discuss what they felt and learned from their sensory deprivation.
- Name That Personal Care Item Use this identification game to familiarize fundamentals students with the patient care items they will frequently encounter on the job. Start by collecting a variety of personal care items, such as a fracture pan, regular bed pan, catheter, etc., and set them on a table. Give each item a number and hold them up one item at a time. Then have students write down what they think the item is. This active learning activity can be used in place of a quiz where students individually write down the answers on a piece of paper to hand in. Or for an interactive review, divide the class into four teams and carry out the activity as if it were a round in a game show (first team to ring the bell gets to guess, and so on).
- Clinical to Classroom Each week, assign one student to write a case study based anonymously on a former clinical patient whose diagnoses relate to concepts being covered in readings and class. Have the student present his/her case study. Then allow classmates time to discuss their possible answers to the questions provided in the case study. Finally, have the author lead a discussion about the clinical patient case study and provide the “correct answers” that the authoring student prepared from required class readings, preparatory research, and his/her actual clinical experience with the patient. These can be submitted to you prior to class for review and you can then post it on the course website for all students to download prior to class.
We hope you found these helpful, active learning methods useful. For more information, read about one instructor’s success with active learning.
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Simulations in the Classroom: An Innovative Active Learning Experience
- Becky Walters, MSN, RN, FNP-BC, CNE Becky Walters Correspondence Corresponding author. Contact Affiliations Purdue University School of Nursing, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA Search for articles by this author
- Janelle Potetz, MSN, RN, ANP-BC, CNE Janelle Potetz Affiliations Purdue University School of Nursing, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA Search for articles by this author
- Heather N. Fedesco, PhD Heather N. Fedesco Affiliations Purdue University Centers for Instructional Excellence, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA Search for articles by this author
- • Incorporating simulations in the classroom setting is an effective active learning strategy.
- • Student performance can be improved with simulations implemented in a classroom.
- • Simulations create a more student-centered classroom that can enhance student perceptions of autonomy, competence, connectedness, and motivation.
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecns.2017.07.009
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Classroom Simulations: Proceed With Caution
When Maya Saakvitne's parents sent her for a three-day school field trip two years ago at Nature's Classroom, a camp in western Massachusetts, they didn't expect her to come home with a tale of her feet falling asleep after counselors asked her to kneel in the hold of a make-believe slave ship. And keep her head down even though some of the other 5th-grade classmates from Jefferson Street Elementary School were crying. Nor that the same class later would sneak through the woods at night in a simulation of an escape along the Underground Railroad.
When Maya's parents, Karen Saakvitne and Denise Elliott, asked the Nature's Classroom staff to explain, they didn't like the response. Representatives of the Charlton, Mass.-based nonprofit, which for 32 years has run experiential learning camps for school groups along the East Coast, said the simulations had good intentions.
According to the curriculum for the Underground Railroad activity, the goal is "to encourage students to think and act in ways that Africans trying to escape slavery thought and acted," and to "create a physically and emotionally safe, yet challenging experience." This included a pursuit to freedom, where students encountered a bounty hunter to "reinforce feelings of helplessness and frustration," and a freed slave who asked them, "Who among the group will be the next to return south to liberate others?"
Since these induced feelings were sometimes contradictory, Maya's parents weren't the only ones concerned by the three-day trip, which included numerous environmental and team-building activities for the 50-60 students. But they had added authority: Both are psychologists with expertise in psychological trauma. Soon the Underground Railroad activity became a hot topic of debate in the Northampton, Mass., community, with many letters published in the local newspaper. "This activity is designed to manipulate children's emotions (fear, shame, betrayal, helplessness) to teach empathy," wrote Elliott in a letter to the editor.
Saakvitne strongly agreed, in part because 10-year-old Maya is African American, and the counselors facilitating the activity were all white, and also because parents were not told in advance about the activity. Saakvitne remembers how distressful it was to learn about the Holocaust in her own 6th-grade history class in Lexington, Mass. That evening, she mapped out all of the hiding places in her home, in case the Nazis came for her. "Kids don't have a concept of time and history, so they feel it can happen to them," she says.
Stefan Sage, associate director of the Nature's Classroom New England branch, says that a lot of time is spent prepping the kids for the activity. Also, the curriculum sets up rules for role-playing by the use of hats. When adults are wearing hats, for example, they are role-playing, and when the hats come off, the role-play stops.
"Kids aren't given enough credit for what they can handle," he says. "I haven't heard a lot about kids saying that it's horrible. Schools see it as important and ask for it year after year. Very few ask to drop it. A lot of schools do follow-up activities with the Underground Railroad."
Holly Ghazey, a 5th-grade teacher from Maya's school, who has woven the Underground Railroad activity into her students' American history curriculum and study of slavery, says she likes it "as a way to pique people's interest." At least 50 percent of graduating 6th graders cite their Nature's Classroom trip, specifically the Underground Railroad activity, as one of their favorite school experiences, according to Gwen Agna, principal of Jefferson Street School. "One of the positives," says Agna, is that "students of color say they felt very affirmed, that kids of European descent are able to understand what people of color go through."
While a majority of parents support the simulation, others do not. Until the controversy is resolved, the school has decided not to participate in the Underground Railroad activity during its annual trip to Nature's Classroom. The school, and the wider district, are in the process of considering other hands-on activities to teach students about the Underground Railroad, says Agna.
The clash between Nature's Classroom and Maya's parents represents a vigorous national debate about the use of simulations — the recreating of historical and fictional events — as anti-bias teaching tools. According to Karen McKinney, who is researching simulations as a doctoral student at the University of St. Thomas, anti-oppression experiential activities became more popular in the 1980s as teachers tried to apply in the classroom new research in critical instruction, much of it indebted to Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed .
Some educators claim simulations have unparalleled power in sensitizing young people to oppression. But others, including prominent diversity education groups, say it's time to stop. Simulations, they say, are both dangerous and unnecessary.
Teaching tools or trauma traps?
The basic theory behind simulations is to allow students to assume the roles of other people and act out scenarios in order to gain deeper insight into historical events or phenomena. Several national companies specialize in designing simulations, but teachers can and do create their own. At any give time, simulations may be playing out in thousands of pre-K through 12 and college classrooms throughout the country. Topics are virtually unlimited, from slave ship experiences to the stock market before the Crash of 1929 to life under authoritarian regimes. Not all topics are controversial — the signing of the Declaration of Independence, for example. But other simulations are laden with inherent emotion and conflict, especially as they relate to race and ethnic identity.
So far, there is little evidence to prove or disprove possible adverse effects of simulations on children. "What we found is such a dearth of information," Saakvitne says of her literature search. The evidence that does exist is primarily anecdotal. But there is fuel for an emerging opposition. Educators who oppose the use of simulations for emotionally vulnerable subjects generally point to three main concerns: the effects of simulations on children's psychological development, the ability of simulations to oversimplify history and oppression, and the fact that few teachers possess the appropriate training to facilitate simulations successfully.
They can also point to Max Fischer, a veteran teacher who has written World History Simulations, and several other books of simulations. One of his classroom activities had students rotate the roles of tribal chief, slave trader and slave — the latter of whom carried books and sharpened pencils for other students.
A few years ago, Fischer decided to stop the simulations of slavery. "The students did (to a small degree) begin to appreciate the indignities to which slaves were subjected," said Fischer in a 2002 interview with Education World. "The tradeoff was that some students found it very difficult to handle the role of being a slave. I decided at that point that the simulation would be overly sensitive to a number of students in any given classroom."
Psychological impact was Saakvitne's concern, professionally and as a parent. "Children have different vulnerabilities to such experiences — vulnerabilities teachers cannot and should not be expected to know," she says. Other critics of simulations say that playing the role of an oppressed person can be unnecessarily traumatic for someone from the targeted group. "You are just revisiting additional pain, or being asked to behave in ways that are not building community," says Phredd Matthews Wall, a former junior high school teacher. He now works with Facing History and Ourselves, a national organization that has chosen not to include simulations in its curriculum against racism and anti-Semitism, which reaches 1.6 million students annually.
Also opposing emotionally-laden simulations is the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which has reached more than 375,000 teachers with its A Classroom of Difference curriculum. During the 2007 Holocaust Remembrance Week, the ADL posted a message on its Web site warning educators that simulations "can reinforce negative views of the victims." The ADL cited the example of a Florida 8th-grader whose class participated in a Holocaust simulation. Students were split into the "privileged" and the "persecuted." Members of the persecuted group wore gold stars, were forced to stand at the back of the class, and were prevented from using drinking fountains. After the simulation, the boy told his parents, "The only thing I found out today is that I don't want to be Jewish."
Matthews Wall says that perpetuating stereotypes and oversimplifying history can be easy byproducts of simulations if teachers aren't careful. "The unfortunate message is, 'Now you know what it feels like to be — fill-in-the-blank, African American, a Holocaust survivor.'"
Michael Wotorson, the NAACP's national education director, says simulations often focus on the horrors of African American history rather than achievements. "This is not to deny or ignore the past," Wotorson says, "but we're talking about impressionable and malleable minds. If all you're doing is focusing on Nat Turner and runaway slaves, that becomes the biggest impression left on kids' minds." Wotorson believes that simulations should be limited to students in college settings.
Madeline Choppa, a senior and diversity trainer at Saratoga Springs High School in New York, says there's yet another objection: simulating historical events deflects attention from current oppressions. "[Pretending] you're going through something like slavery, the Holocaust, it separates you more from present time and makes you think, 'Oh, wow, it was terrible back then,' and that discrimination doesn't happen anymore."
A Limited Defense
But there is support for simulations, too. The critical factors for success involve teacher expertise and careful balance of diversity factors such as race. Karen McKinney, who has compiled qualitative research that largely supports simulations as an anti-bias teaching tool among high school and college students at the University of St. Thomas, worked several years at a Minnesota camp that facilitated an intensive simulation to teach African-American high school students "where our ancestors had been [and] provide an impetus and motivation for them going forward."
The set-up for that mock event, says McKinney, was that students were studying art and history in a recreated African village when adults playing slave catchers kidnapped them, using real chains, knives and guns. For two days, the "abducted" students re-enacted the Middle Passage in a dark, cramped boat, followed the Underground Railroad, and participated in a simulation of the Civil Rights Movement, including staging a lunch counter sit-in.
The difference, McKinney says, was that most of the adult facilitators, like herself, were African American. "I wouldn't do it with just a white team of educators," she says. "It's important to be more inclusive."
One of the most well-known simulations remains the Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes exercise, promoted, among other places, on The Oprah Winfrey Show . In Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes, students are split based on eye color. Each group is granted different rules and privileges. The next day, the groups switch sides, with the disempowered gaining privileges, and the powerful losing them. At the conclusion, participants talk about their experience of being treated, and treating, others unfairly.
"For some, it is the first time they see how their behavior impacts a person who is a victim," says Jane Elliott, who designed and still facilitates the exercise around the world. It is very controversial, but Elliott says it can be empowering for African-American students, who find out discrimination is "not in their imagination, it's really happening to them. It is a system, and they are not paranoid."
But those who use Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes offer qualified endorsement. For training purposes, the ADL sometimes screens "The Eye of the Storm," a 1970 film showing Elliott conducting Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes in her classroom. "Often, teachers say, 'Wow, it's so powerful, we want to do that,'" says Lindsay Friedman, ADL's education director. "But, we say, 'Don't try this at home. You need a highly experienced facilitator, extensive debriefing. It's such a risk.'"
Even Elliott doesn't think every teacher should try it. "Simulations can go awry and have ungodly implications," she warns. For example, when a junior high school librarian put some of her own changes in Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes, it started a fight that required parents to be called in.
Elliott advises that teachers must have at least five years of classroom experience, children of their own, and have read every book in her bibliography before conducting the emotionally sensitive exercise.
"The research community is highly divided on the ethics of [Elliott's] project," says Melanie Killen, Professor of Human Development and the Associate Director for the Center for Children, Relationships and Culture at the University of Maryland. "The children who were in it experienced stress and disengagement for a long time afterwards." Killen, who co-edited Handbook on Moral Development , worries the basis of many anti-bias simulations "stems from the old-fashioned, Freudian notion that fairy tales have to be scary to teach kids — there is no evidence this is the case."
She has what she says is a better idea: Instead of simulations, simply infuse all curricula — history, English, biology — with anti-bias segments.
The National Coalition Building Institute (NCBI) doubts that students even need to create pretend worlds at school to learn about bigotry and discrimination. In fact, they experience prejudice every day in real life based on differences such as their race, gender, or learning disabilities, says Ira Baumgarten, who works with NCBI as co-director for Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) Partnership for Education and Training.
"Young people are dying to talk about these things," Baumgarten says. In NCBI's workshops, students don't enact simulations — they play themselves. With help from trained facilitators, ground rules and a structured environment, students from all grades are guided to openly express how they are teased, discriminated against or harassed. The results are easily seen. "When a person experiencing racism speaks out, it is very emotional — it can be life-changing and healing," Baumgarten says.
The test of time
The controversy following Nature's Classroom's Underground Railroad simulation in Northampton was not unlike the reaction to an exercise during the 1970s in a small, Connecticut town after a 7th-grade teacher staged a simulated take-over of the school to teach his students about the dangers of fascism.
Karen Bernstein was part of that class as students followed the daily orders of their teacher, who became increasingly authoritarian and eventually dressed in military garb. Putting up flags and emblems all over the school, the 100 students wearing armbands followed their teacher's commands to challenge the authority of the school's principal. Twenty-six years later at a class reunion, the activity was still being discussed.
Intrigued, Bernstein interviewed classmates for an audio story produced in 2000 for Chicago Public Radio's "This American Life," broadcast on hundreds of public radio stations.
"It didn't scar me for life," said one woman interviewed for the documentary. Another woman felt that the experience helped her see her own "dark side." But one man, now a therapist, warned: "Not all of us are as durable as everybody else."
Some had never spoken out about how traumatic the experience was. That it was the most talked-about topic during a school reunion decades later signals the power of simulations to engage students. When Bernstein interviewed her teacher, he said if he had it to do all over again, he wouldn't.
Lessons Learned
When Katy Crawford-Garrett started teaching 5th grade at Capital City Public Charter School in Washington, D.C. — a school almost equally mixed among African Americans, Latinos and Anglos — she wanted students to "grasp how important their rights are, on a visceral level."
Crawford-Garrett considered using the Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes exercise, but after discussing the idea with parents, decided it wasn't right. "One parent's son had gone through a colored dot activity where people were treated differently," she says. "He had a really bad experience."
Instead, with input from the principal, other teachers and parents, Crawford-Garrett designed her own simulation, "A Day Without Rights," which she's conducted for the past four years. Using a lesson on the Bill of Rights as her instructional base, Crawford-Garrett asks students to brainstorm the rights they use in the classroom, such as a fair trial, or listening to both sides of a dispute. Then, she asks who is willing to sacrifice their rights for a day.
Almost every student decides to participate. "Really neat things have happened," Crawford-Garrett says, such as a spontaneous protest march. For many students, it becomes one of the most memorable experiences of the year. In a writing assignment following the activity last year, one boy reflected: "The hardest right to give up is peaceful assembly, because lunch is a time to speak with friends." A female classmate observed, "I was in a cage without a door."
Students are told they can't quit in the middle of the day, and Crawford-Garrett requires parental permission. Usually, one student decides not to participate and instead helps document the day, through photographs and written observations.
"If it had been forced on them, it might have been more powerful in a certain sense," Crawford-Garrett says. "But I think for me, that it was voluntary was key, especially as a white teacher."
Crawford-Garrett's precautions mirror the advice from other education experts for teachers who want to attempt simulations in their classrooms:
- Prior to facilitation, clearly identify the learning objectives.
- Avoid simulations that can trigger emotional traumas.
- Allow students to opt out.
- Notify parents in advance, especially with younger students.
- Don't group students according to characteristics that represent real-life oppression (racial or gender lines, for example).
- Strive for a diverse facilitation team.
- Build in ample time for debriefing; include journal writing for students uncomfortable talking aloud about their experiences.
- During debriefing, avoid telling students what happened, and instead ask open-ended questions, e.g., "What happened in today's simulation?"
- Remind students to disengage from the role-play at the activity's conclusion.
- Connect to real-life experiences and ways to apply what's been learned.
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Classroom Activities
Research shows that when students engage with each other in learning tasks, they remember material better and they figure out how to apply and extend their new knowledge more effectively. In addition, this approach promotes learning among students from diverse backgrounds and who have diverse learning styles. Active learning strategies are also simply more interesting, both for the instructor and for the students. Some kinds can be done with relatively little preparation; others require more careful logistical preparation.
To use active learning techniques effectively, think through the learning objectives you want the students to reach and pick a goal-appropriate activity. Be sure to plan the logistics of the activity in advance. You’ll also need to estimate how much out-of-class preparation and in-class time the activity will take for the students. (GSIs often underestimate how much class time the activity requires.) Lastly, how will you wrap up the activity once the students have done their part?
Below is a selection of active learning techniques you can use in your section.
Peer Instruction Class Debate Role-Playing Case Studies Creative Scenarios and Simulations
Peer Instruction
First developed in physics classes, peer instruction can be adapted for a number of other disciplines.
- To move the site of teaching and learning from the instructor to the students.
- To have students connect or apply concepts by explaining to another student or trying to convince another student.
- To enable students to evaluate their understanding of the instructor’s explanation.
- To move students to a higher learning level that extends beyond concerns about what to memorize.
Description
The instructor introduces a question that requires students to reason out a problem using immediate course content and provides a few alternative answers: 1, 2, and 3. (This is a low-tech version. Many faculty members use an electronic classroom response system such as iClickers or a phone app for this.) Students raise their hands to indicate which alternative they think best answers the question. Students are then asked to work in pairs, each student trying to convince the other of his or her explanation of the answer. After one minute, the instructor brings the class back together and polls the class again. Usually there is some shift toward the correct response, showing that the students who got it have effectively taught those who did not in the first poll. You can wrap this activity up by having someone explain the correct answer. Everyone will be curious and want to compare notes with those who have reasoned it out correctly. Of course, if there are still gaps in the students’ explanations, you should fill those in.
Alex Filippenko, professor of astronomy, asks, “Why does the Sun shine?”
- Nuclear reactions in the center release energy.
- Chemical reactions: the Sun is “burning.”
- Slow gravitational contraction releases energy.
Students raise their hands, when prompted, to indicate the selection of answer 1, 2, or 3. Professor Filippenko knows by the show of hands approximately how many students don’t know the answer and could use more instruction. The next step is not to tell them the answer, but to have each student turn to a partner to explain why he or she chose 1, 2, or 3. After one minute of mutual explanation and persuasion, Professor Filippenko repeats the question for another show of hands. In general, those who have answered the question correctly have been able to convince their partners of why their answer is correct. However, some misunderstanding may remain. Professor Filippenko then gives the correct answer with an explanation, or he has a couple of students give the explanation.
Class Debate
- To encourage students to organize their thoughts in a critical or argumentative way that takes into account the complexity of issues and the existence of alternative and opposing views.
- To increase students’ public speaking and presentation skills, including the ability to think quickly on one’s feet.
- To develop students’ research skills and give them a chance to gain expertise in a particular subject.
This technique can be used with either large or small groups. In either case, it is often best to begin with a brief class discussion of the issues involved in the debate topic. This provides a context for the debate, a sense of the sub-issues involved, and a gauge of class feelings on the issues. At this time the instructor should also make clear the rules of the debate, including time allotted to each side and rules for speaking. (Several websites offer formats and rules for various kinds of debates.) If a small group format is used, divide the class into groups and give them time to choose their topic and resolution. (Debates are often won or lost in the wording of the resolution, so it is important that the students have some leeway in deciding upon this wording.) After the sides and resolution are decided, the students will need time to prepare their arguments and strategies. If the class is to perform the debate as a large group, the instructor usually serves as moderator. In this case, the two sides should also be given some time to develop their positions and their strategies of argument before the debate begins. In either a small- or large-group format, students may be instructed to argue for their own beliefs or against them, depending on the instructor’s objectives. Likewise, the instructor may choose to have students argue first an affirmative position and then a negative one. Some instructors prefer to summarize the debate at the end; this can clarify the information presented and direct students to focus on the key points derived from the exercise. Other instructors refrain from summarizing students’ contributions, thereby preserving the variety of opinions and perspectives that were expressed over the course of the debate.
In an American Political History course, the class was discussing the relative merits of the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution. As the discussion began to polarize and heat up, the instructor decided to formalize the process in a debate. She divided the class roughly in half according to their stances on the issue. The students on one side of the issue sat together on one side of the room, and students with the opposing view sat on the other side. The students were asked to argue the position opposed to their own beliefs because the instructor wanted them to become more familiar with the other side’s arguments. They were given one and a half class periods to work together on their strategies and arguments, and the debate lasted one class period. The debate took place under a simplified version of Robert’s Rules of Order, with the teacher serving as the chair. (Click to learn more about Robert’s Rules of Order .)
Similarly, in a statistics course, the instructor encouraged the class to debate competing methods of solving certain kinds of problems. The class was allowed to polarize and was then formally separated to give the students time to work together to prepare their arguments. Then they were brought together in a semi-formal debate to argue which method was better.
Finally, in a course on oral argumentation, students were routinely assigned two debates. In the first debate they debated one-on-one; in the second one they debated two-on-two. They were allowed to choose their own topics and resolutions, both of which had to be approved by the instructor, but they worked on their arguments outside of class. Students were given two weeks after choosing their resolutions before beginning debate in class. If a student debated the affirmative side of the issue in the first debate, he or she was required to take the negative side the next time to get an understanding of the different arguments and strategies on the other side.
Role-Playing
Role-play may be done as a whole class or in small groups to enable students to gain insight into diverse situations and perspectives.
- To increase student awareness of the interconnectedness of knowledge and the subtle complexities of a situation.
- To include affective learning as well as cognitive understanding.
- To expand personal experience by enacting a situation.
The instructor begins by describing a context and a situation within that context. Students are either given roles or allowed to choose them. Students are given time to prepare before assuming their roles and acting out the situation. Some instructors add student observers to the situations. These observers do not act out a role in the situation, but they observe and analyze the performances of the actors and provide feedback both to the actors and to the instructor and class. Role-plays may be used even in fields which do not involve human beings directly: e.g., students may play the roles of cells, molecules, economic forces, and abstract philosophies in addition to historical figures or literary characters.
In an introductory biology class, the instructor used role-plays to help students more actively grasp the formation of protein chains. The class was divided into groups and each group was assigned to play the role of a particular type of atom. Groups were required to study the behavior of these atoms and then act them out in class. Once the role-play began, some atoms would bond with others at particular angles to form simple molecules. Other atoms would repel each other and make certain formations difficult to achieve. Simple molecules would form into larger ones, and eventually protein chains would evolve.
In a physics course, a small ball became an electron. The electron was passed from one student to another to demonstrate electron transfer and oxidized/reduced states. Later in the course, the students were able to name the components of an electron transport chain that they built by passing the electron.
In a Shakespeare course, students studied Shakespeare’s plays intensively for a few weeks. Then they chose scenes and roles from a set of scenes selected by the instructor. They analyzed their chosen characters, then acted out the scene for the class. Finally, they wrote a short essay explaining the motivations they ascribed to their characters.
Case Studies
- To facilitate intuitive and integrated understanding of complex, interconnected issues.
- To encourage students to integrate theory with practice.
- To enliven the material by making it concrete and relating it to the lived world.
Students are given specific cases to study that illustrate general theories presented in the course. Students may be asked to write an analysis of the case, to report on it orally, or to be prepared for detailed questions from the instructor.
In a physics methodology class, students were given unsigned research reports by famous physicists. They were divided into groups and asked to critique the research methods used in the cases they had been given. Each group presented its findings orally in class. Only at the end of the exercise did the students learn the names of the researchers.
In a political science class, after a unit of instruction on ruling styles, the class was given biographies of a number of rulers. The class was divided into groups and each group was assigned a biography. Each group was to determine what kind of ruling style the leader used and whether it was an effective style of leadership according to the criteria laid out in lecture.
Creative Scenarios and Simulations
Creative scenarios and simulations can be used to make students more active in their learning and to increase their research skills.
- To encourage students to extrapolate beyond the information they receive in class.
- To stimulate creative and original thinking by having students look at their knowledge from a new perspective.
- To foster a greater awareness of the interdependence of theories and facts.
Creative scenarios and simulations are connected by the fact that they both depend on counter-factual assumptions. In addition, both often combine several aspects of role-playing and case studies. In creative scenarios, students are familiarized with a particular configuration of knowledge and reality. The instructor then specifies a hypothetical change to this configuration and asks the students to discuss the effects of this change on a specific area of interest. In simulations, students are put in situations which are set up to be analogous to “real” situations of interest to the course. Students are then asked to act out the simulation as if it were the real thing.
Examples of Scenarios
In a public health class on hospitals, the class studied the various factors influencing the economics of their operation. The class was then asked to work out what the effects would be on those economics if a cheap vaccination against AIDS were developed tomorrow.
Students in a geography class were studying the impact of nuclear radiation on ecosystems. They were asked to predict what the effects would have been had Chernobyl’s reactor melted down into the ground water underneath the reactor core.
Examples of Simulations
Students in a business class were studying entrepreneurship. As their final project for the semester, they were asked to simulate how they would go about starting their own company. Students were put into groups and told that they had a set amount of venture capital to work with. They then took whatever steps they thought wisest to establish their own company and turn it into a profit-making entity. They had to develop a comprehensive plan which included what product they would manufacture, who would manufacture it, how much it would cost, how they would finance production, how they would hire personnel, how they would market their product, and how they would manage their company. In one class, the professor arranged with a private venture capital company to actually provide funding in the specified amount to the group that came up with the best plan.
Students in an upper division engineering class were asked to write up their final projects as if they were being submitted to a journal for publication, in order to practice professional writing within the discipline. They were allowed to choose which journal they would like to submit their results to; then they had to study that journal to discover what kinds of articles it accepted and what the rules concerning format and submissions were. Finally, they wrote their article following the standards they themselves had discovered.
In a math course, the students often played Math Jeopardy in lieu of a quiz. The instructor provided a list of three math topics such as Wacky Integrals, Simple Proofs, and Limits, as well as one non-math topic such as Bay Area Trivia or Famous Dead Rock Stars. Math questions were assigned dollar values of $10, $25, $50, or $100, while the non-math questions were worth $1, $5, $10, or $15. Students would take turns picking questions, then everyone would be given a few minutes to write down an answer. The game would end after ten questions were picked and answered. The instructor found this game helpful not only as a fun learning tool for the students, but as an informational device for his teaching. If all of one topic disappeared quickly, then he was confident that the students understood that subject. If another topic remained virtually untouched, then he knew what he needed to discuss in the next section.
In an upper division biology class, students were assigned journal articles to read either individually or in small groups. They were then asked to design the next step of experiments that would further this research topic and present their work in the form of a mini-grant proposal.
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Clinical Simulation in Nursing
Research brief simulations in the classroom: an innovative active learning experience.
Simulation is a common active learning strategy. Although simulation is popular for its effectiveness in the clinical setting, its use in the classroom has been underreported. This article describes classroom activities using simulation and explores its impact on student knowledge and perceptions.
Third-year baccalaureate nursing students enrolled in an adult health alterations course participated in the study. Classroom simulations were performed in a lecture hall and were designed to engage students in the transfer of theory to practice. Semesters with and without the inclusion of simulations were compared.
Students enrolled in semesters that included simulations performed better on quizzes and the first examination and perceived the learning environment to be more student centered, felt more autonomous, competent and connected to the class, and were more motivated.
Incorporating simulations in the classroom can be an effective way to improve student knowledge and perceptions of the learning environment.
Students learn best when they actively participate in the learning process. By engaging students in their learning, educators can nurture a deeper understanding of the material and assist students to perform high-order thinking, such as applying information (Shin, Sok, Hyun, & Kim, 2015). Simulation, a form of experiential learning, is an educational strategy that allows students to be engaged through real-life application of theory to practice. Simulation-based learning provides an opportunity
The course enrolls approximately 50 baccalaureate nursing students per semester who have already completed the prerequisite foundational science and nursing courses and are in their third year of a four-year nursing program. Participants comprised 199 students (93.5% female). The students ranged in age from 20 to 47 with an average age of 22.14 ( SD = 3.00). The majority of students were White (92.0%), followed by Hispanic/Latino (3.5%), mixed race (2.5%), Asian (1.5%) and Native
Analyses were run to test whether differences existed on student knowledge and perceptions between courses that included simulation versus courses that did not include simulation. Independent samples t -tests were conducted comparing semesters with and without simulations on student knowledge (quiz mean percentage and percentages from five examinations) and perceptions (learning climate, autonomy, competence, relatedness, and motivation [self-determination index]). The results of the t -tests on
This project tested the effectiveness of simulations used in a medical–surgical didactic nursing course. Semesters with and without simulations were compared in order to assess whether simulations improved student knowledge and perceptions of learning. The results suggest that simulations are beneficial active learning activities that have a significant positive impact on students.
Conclusions
As nursing programs seek to engage students in learning, faculty can consider activities that integrate simulation into the classroom to recreate real-life events and provide learning through actual experiences. Simulation can add benefits to the classroom including (a) improving student knowledge and (b) improving perceptions of the learning climate by boosting feelings of autonomy, competence, relatedness, and motivation. Further, there are other benefits of simulation activities performed in
A systematic review of selected evidence on improving knowledge and skills through high-fidelity simulation
Nurse education today, assessing the value of large-group simulation in the classroom, the role of simulation in nurse education, statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences, enhancing nursing knowledge using high fidelity simulation, journal of nursing education, on the assignment of situational intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: the situational motivation scale (sims), motivation and emotion, use of simulation in teaching and learning in health sciences: a systematic review, clinical judgment in nursing students after observation of in-class simulations.
The efficacy of using in-class simulations to develop clinical judgment is understudied.
This was a repeated measures, quasi-experimental, within-subjects one-group design study to determine if observations of in-class simulations and the primary nurse role influenced clinical judgment skills among 45 study participants.
Clinical judgment skills increased after the in-class simulations. Statistically significant differences were seen between the scores for primary nurse role (n = 21) and supporting nurse role (n = 24) at the third measurement point (week 16).
Observation of in-class simulation and being in the primary nurse role may improve clinical judgment skills.
Bringing simulation to the classroom using an unfolding video patient scenario: A quasi-experimental study to examine student satisfaction, self-confidence, and perceptions of simulation design
Research has also shown benefits for nursing program operations because it allows nurse educators to engage large numbers of students in simulation learning at one time. This decreases the demand for scheduling the simulation laboratory, as well as the need for nurse educators to facilitate laboratory-based simulations (Carson and Harder, 2016; Herron et al., 2019; Walters et al., 2017) To bring the “patient” to the classroom for simulation, several studies brought a high-fidelity manikin or standardized patient to class.
Teaching strategies to promote experiential learning in the classroom are important to facilitate students' clinical reasoning abilities. Using video to simulate unfolding patient scenarios in the classroom has the potential to engage students through active learning and to enhance their ability to connect theory to practice.
Study objectives were to: (1) Evaluate nursing students' satisfaction and self-confidence in learning and perceptions of the design of a simulated patient scenario delivered via video in the classroom and (2) Compare findings to students' satisfaction, self-confidence, and perceptions of the design of prior high-fidelity simulation experiences in the laboratory.
A quasi-experimental approach was used.
The study setting was a nursing classroom at a University in the southeast United States.
Convenience sampling was utilized and 54 students in their final semester of a pre-licensure baccalaureate nursing program participated.
The intervention was an unfolding video patient scenario delivered in the classroom. Prior to the intervention, participants completed two measurement tools to collect information about their satisfaction, self-confidence, and perceptions of the design of prior high-fidelity simulations. After the intervention, these tools were administered again to collect data about the video simulation experience in the classroom.
Participants had a higher level of satisfaction ( p = 0.002) and self-confidence ( p < 0.001) following the classroom intervention than for prior high-fidelity simulations in the laboratory. Student perceptions of the simulation design were more favorable for the classroom intervention than for prior laboratory simulations ( p < 0.001).
Use of unfolding video patient scenarios in the classroom can promote student engagement in learning. Nurse educators should consider this teaching strategy that provides students with opportunities to connect and apply classroom content to patient care.
An innovative experiential and collaborative learning approach to an undergraduate marketing management course: A case of the Philippines
The students switched roles for every new situation. Walters et al. (2017) results showed that at the end of the term the students performed better on written tests and had a more positive attitude towards the learning environment than those students in sections who didn't use simulation in the course. Li, Greenberg, and Nicholls (2007) adopted a computer network-based program to simulate a global industry.
This paper proposes a collaborative approach with the Computer Science Department and Product Design Course to conducting Marketing Management (MM) in the undergraduate program to achieve the skills critical to the 21st-century. These skills are collaboration and teamwork, creativity, and critical thinking and problem-solving. This study aims to present a case of innovative experiential learning in teaching an advanced MM course by bringing in students from other programs (collaborative learning) and working with real-life clients (experiential learning). Instead of the traditional teacher-centric lecturing and the use of case studies, this proposed approach is student-centric learning (i.e., students were tasked to identify the needs of the real-life client and offer an innovative solution). Ninety five percent of the MM students found the new method to be effective in terms of: applying theory in real life situation, improving their ability to identify needs and opportunities, developing actual products/services based on the identified needs, working with an interdisciplinary team, enhancing their interpersonal skills, developing their leadership skills, improving their communication skills, and encouraging them to keep learning. Areas for improvement are also discussed in the paper.
The Great Cookie Experiment as a Simulation-Based Experience
Do simulation studies measure up a simulation study quality review.
Simulation-based education has become a ubiquitous teaching approach in nursing. However, ensuring the quality of simulation research is critical. We reviewed the methodological quality of 26 quantitative studies published in Clinical Simulation in Nursing, 2017. The Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument and Simulation Research Evaluation Rubric showed that nearly all studies were of moderate to high quality (rated ≥50%). Correlation coefficients showed that interrater agreement was high overall (≥0.94). In conclusion, this was a valid approach for examining simulation study quality. Although most included studies were of high quality, some elements of study reporting can be improved upon.
Active Learning and Interpersonal Skills Development among First-Generation College Students
Faculty evaluation of undergraduate nursing simulation: a grounded theory model.
Understanding how faculty judge and appraise students' performance during simulation and what factors influence the process may lead to more consistent and effective evaluation outcomes. The purpose of this grounded theory study was to explore the process by which nursing faculty evaluate a student performance in simulation.
This qualitative study utilized semi-structured interviews and video elicitation according to the guidelines of grounded theory methodology.
A conceptual model was developed with four main concepts: perceived expectations, influences, simulation event, outcomes, and evaluation approach with perceived expectations as the core phenomenon.
Although study results clearly identify the importance of a systematic approach to evaluation, the literature yields little information regarding a step-by-step process for faculty evaluation.
Introducing INACSL Standards of Best Practice: Simulation SM Operations
Identification of transfusion-associated circulatory overload: an eye-tracking study.
The identification of transfusion-associated circulatory overload (TACO) relies heavily on the nurse's surveillance activities. Eye tracking can provide important information about nurses' surveillance behaviors as they carry out the blood transfusion process. The purpose of this study was to describe the eye movements of nurses who successfully identified TACO.
A convenience sample consisted of 20 acute and critical care nurses.
An observational descriptive study using eye tracking was carried out in a simulated clinical setting.
The TACO identifying nurses had the longest duration of eye fixations on the nursing shift report, infusion pumps, bedside monitor, and documentation flow sheet. The shortest duration of eye fixations was on the patient and blood product label.
Our findings suggest that the nursing shift report was a key source of data for the TACO identifying nurses, lending support to the need for accurate and complete handoffs between nurses.
The kidney allocation system does not appropriately stratify risk of pediatric donor kidneys: Implications for pediatric recipients
Kidney Allocation System (KAS) was enacted in 2014 to improve graft utility, while facilitating transplantation of highly-sensitized patients and preserving pediatric access to high-quality kidneys. Central to this system is the Kidney Donor Profile Index (KDPI), a metric intended to predict transplant outcomes based on donor characteristics but derived using only adult donors. We posited that KAS had inadvertently altered the profile and quantity of kidneys made available to pediatric recipients. This question arose from our observation that most pediatric donors carry a KDPI over 35 and have therefore been rendered relatively inaccessible to pediatric recipients under KAS. Here we explore early trends in pediatric transplantation following KAS, including: (i) use of pediatric donors, (ii) use of Public Health System (PHS) high infectious risk donors, (iii) wait time, and (iv) living donor transplantation. We note some concerning preliminary changes following KAS implementation, including the allocation of fewer deceased donor pediatric kidneys to children and stagnation in pediatric wait times. Moreover, the poor predictive power of the KDPI for adult donors appears to be even worse when applied to pediatric donors. These early trends warrant further observation and consideration of changes in pediatric kidney allocation if they persist.
Simulation as an Effective Strategy for Interprofessional Education
Interprofessional simulation provides healthcare professions students an opportunity to collaborate in a team. The purpose of this study was to examine student perspectives of an interprofessional simulation lab experience within the fields of nursing, physical therapy, nutrition, and social work. A pre-post design was employed, using the validated Interprofessional Attitudes Survey Interprofessional Education Collaborative tools to determine if there were any perceived changes in interprofessional competency and attitudes about interprofessional simulation experience. Following the simulation there were significant changes in students' attitudes in areas of cultural competence, understanding of roles, interprofessional communication and teamwork. Interprofessional simulation is a teaching strategy that shows great promise for promoting teamwork among the healthcare professions.
Toolbox of teaching strategies in nurse education
There are a variety of teaching strategies that instructors can use to improve student learning. It is of great importance to select appropriate teaching strategies in nurse education to make the training more appealing and more effective.
In this article, ten teaching strategies will be introduced to help instructors learn how to involve the teaching strategy in the nurse education. If using these strategies well, students are more likely to memorize the information associated with the lesson. Selection of teaching strategies appropriately is of great importance for nurse educators to deliver high-quality education.
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Simulations engage students in active learning.
Simulations engage students in ways that few other activities can. Teacher Max Fischer, the author of a book of simulation activities for the social studies classroom, shares his initial simulation experiences, his process for creating simulations, and tips for using simulations in the classroom. Included: Fischer shares a favorite simulation activity, The King's M&M's.
Max Fischer is a National Board Certified teacher in the area of early adolescence. In his social studies and history classes, he uses simulation activities to engage students in active learning about events, concepts, and emotions connected to the area of study.
"I believe Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences has enlightened many educators to the different learning strengths various students bring with them," Fischer told Education World. "While schools dominate in linguistic and logical/mathematical types of intelligences [w]e tend to forget that affective and psycho-motor (or tactile) areas of learning are worthy avenues to pursue with most students.
"When students are given an affective outlet in which their feelings are aroused to stimulate learning, we are increasing their opportunities to learn cognitively as well," added Fischer. "Simulations help deliver variety to my instruction and keep students engaged to the point that discipline rarely becomes an issue."
Education World talked with Fischer about using and creating simulation activities in the classroom.
Max Fischer: I view a simulation as a staged replication of an event or concept through the teacher's manipulation of the classroom setting in order to enhance students' understanding of the nature of the concept or event. It can be as simple as one prop, such as a sign proclaiming Free Ice Cream Tomorrow, in order to elicit a student response. It can be an elaborately structured role play. It could be a deliberate ploy to draw students into a specific emotional response. It could last for a few minutes or for a few days.
EW: Do you recall your first experience with a simulation activity? Were you immediately successful?
Fischer: During my second year of teaching, in the mid-1970s, I recall simulating the African slave trade by having students rotating on a daily basis for about a week various roles associated with that topic -- tribal chief, slave trader, colonial buyer, and slave. Students who were slaves were matched with another student, starting with a chief, and were passed down the network from trader to buyer. The slaves had to do menial tasks, such as carrying books and sharpening pencils, for the other students. What I recall is that the students did (to a small degree) begin to appreciate the indignities to which slaves were subjected. The tradeoff was that some students found it very difficult to handle the role of being a slave. I decided at that point that the simulation would be overly sensitive to a number of students in any given classroom. I haven't repeated it since.
Fischer: After a number of years in teaching during which time I had used simulations sporadically at best, I created an activity that crystallized the engaging effects of a worthy simulation. I called it The King's M & M's. In order to get my students to realize how American colonists really felt about King George's Stamp Act and the subsequent Intolerable Acts, which taxed various imported goods such as tea, I gave each student ten M&M's in a paper cup. I randomly assigned roles where most students were colonists, two were tax collectors, two were members of Parliament, and one was King George. Members of Parliament drew slips of paper out of a hat on which I had written down the names of some common items. These items -- for example, blue jeans, Nike shoes, or eyeglasses -- would be subject to taxation. The tax collectors came around and withdrew a specific number of candy pieces for each taxable item if a student possessed that item. The confiscated candies were distributed among Parliament members and the king (with a few going to the tax collectors). The student colonists were infuriated, and I compared their umbrage of the apparent inequity in candy distribution to what the colonists actually felt toward the British system of taxation. The fact that the students had no say in what was taxed in the classroom paralleled the infamous "taxation without representation" sentiment of the colonists.
Later, at parent conferences, one set of parents remarked to me how powerful a lesson that had been. There had been a lengthy discussion at the dinner table the very evening of The King's M & M's, and these parents remarked positively on the impression the simulation had left on their child.
EW: How do you come up with the ideas for your simulation activities?
Fischer: My simulations are built around a core belief that basic human emotions have driven people and events in history. The desire to improve one's life, fear of the unknown or different, religious and economic pursuits and the lust for power have been dominant motivators throughout mankind's existence. Circumstances have changed through the years, but the basic internal motivators remain constant. We share our basic humanity with a multitude of generations who have preceded us in an array of cultures. I look for one of those emotional catalysts within a historical topic and then proceed to emulate it to some degree within the classroom similar to the structure of The King's M&M's. Let's face it, to a middle school student, candy is a form of economic motivator.
Fischer: I teach about ancient civilizations. I use about two or three simulations for each civilization unit. As mentioned earlier, some simulations are carried out in a few minutes while others can last a week. Personally, I am fond of those simulations that can be completed within a lesson's time because usually teachers have so much material that needs to be covered. Sometimes they are used as an anticipatory set where students are drawn into the civilization with the simulation before actual instruction begins. Sometimes I use a simulated review game to conclude a unit.
EW: What advice would you have for a teacher who is about to use a simulation activity for the very first time?
Fischer: If you are using a prepared simulation from a resource book, read through it thoroughly and become as familiar with its instructions as possible. The first time with anything will be somewhat rough until you become confident in its use.
I would also urge that if a simulation is focused on creating a certain emotional response out of the students, such as the anger of the colonists in The King's M&M's, be sure to debrief students before the end of the class period, so the students understand the relationship of the activity to the historical concept in the instructional objective.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, each teacher needs to know his/her students to the point that the teacher uses good "teacher sense" in determining whether a simulation is appropriate for their particular classroom. I created one simulation, Masters of the World, where, with the help of my principal, one group of students seemingly was granted a number of precious favors in an attempt to mimic Hitler's notion of a "master (most-favored) race." Even though the simulation would never last beyond a particular school day, I noted that this simulation would not be suitable for students with any sort of emotional issues, and that it should never be instituted along lines of ethnic or racial characteristics within the class.
EW: Are there specific topics or subjects that lend themselves to simulations better than others?
Fischer: Because I teach social studies, I have made great use of simulations to teach lessons about history, geography, economics, and their associated concepts. As a former self-contained elementary classroom teacher, I have also written several books that dealt entirely with simulations in health. I am aware of simulations being used with scientific topics, and I could easily envision them being suitable for lessons in literature.
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- Vector Walk Interactive
- Name That Motion Interactive
- Kinematic Graphing 1 Concept Checker
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- Graph That Motion Interactive
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- Vector Walk in Two Dimensions Interactive
- Name That Vector Interactive
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- Turd the Target 1 Interactive
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- Egg Drop Concept Checker
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- Collision Carts - Inelastic Collisions Concept Checker
- Its All Uphill Concept Checker
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- Chart That Motion Interactive
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- Uniform Circular Motion Concept Checker
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- Gravitational Fields Concept Checker
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- Name That Charge Simulation
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- Circuit Builder Concept Checker (Series Circuits)
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- Equivalent Resistance Interactive
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- Young's Experiment Interactive
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Physics Interactives with Concept Checkers
Beginning in the Fall of 2022, Task Tracker and Physics Interactives collide to produce Concept Checkers. Task Tracker is our tool for tracking student progress on website activities. A Concept Checker is an interactive questioning module used to access student comprehension. We have generated more than 50 Concept Checkers for use with the Physics Interactives. And we have incorporated our Task Tracker code directly into several of the Interactives. Learn more .
Physics Interactives
Vectors, projectiles and two-dimensional motion.
Online Classroom Simulation Games in Science, Math and Social Studies
Capturing Students’ Interest
Only the most auditory learners will learn best by sitting and listening to a teacher lecture on a topic. Today, multimedia classrooms offer
learners more ways to gather information than simply listening to an instructor. But multimedia-infused teaching truly taps into greater teaching potential through online classroom simulation games, which are recreations of real-world activities.
Science can be a difficult subject for students to understand. This field of science often deals with interactions between objects, organisms and natural forces. Sometimes it is impossible to observe these interactions firsthand, but students can interact with online simulations from almost any computer.
Social Studies
Social Studies simulations are important because Social Studies often deals with events from a past much different than students can envision. Scholastic’s game Oregon Trail may be the best known Social Studies Simulation of all time. History Globe’s Online Jamestown Adventure provides a similar experience, through a short simulation of founding the original Jamestown colony.
Applications
Educational Simulations on CreativeTeachingSite.com
Games and Simulations in the Classroom
The Difference between Digital Games and Simulations
- Simulations allow students to engage with one or more phenomena that are present in the real world but don’t necessarily have a defined gameplay outcome (such as a win condition), though simulations may have very real and defined learning outcomes!
- Digital games frequently also simulate real-life phenomena but often incorporate more elements of fantasy and/or story and usually have a definite end goal for the player (such as acquiring a certain number of points to get to the next level).
Introducing and Explaining Phenomena and Problems
Developing Science and Engineering Skills
Supporting Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion
Digital games and simulations with smithsonian science for the classroom.
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Learning Framework
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IMAGES
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The use of simulation activities in the classroom engage the students more so than other activities. A simulation activity is a learning activity that is designed to reflect a real situation or system. Opportunities Individualized Learning Psychosocial Learning Teaching with Simulations. (2016, July 21).
This article describes classroom activities using simulation and explores its impact on student knowledge and perceptions. Methods: Third-year baccalaureate nursing students enrolled in an adult health alterations course participated in the study.
Simulations give students room to test out their knowledge and make leadership decisions through the lens of real-life situations—all in the safety of the classroom. I find they can work well in any learning environment, including remote and hybrid classes. And they afford lots of flexibility in student configurations, too—students can ...
See our list of 19 poverty simulation classroom activity ideas to increase student understanding of poverty. 1. Do All Children Have Sweet Dreams This lesson teaches elementary school students about needs and wants, using examples from around the world.
This activity works ideally with questions to encourage deeper thinking, problem-solving, and/or critical analysis. The group discussions are critical as they allow students to articulate their thought processes. The procedure is as follows: Pose a question, usually by writing it on the board or projecting it.
Simulation can add benefits to the classroom including (a) improving student knowledge and (b) improving perceptions of the learning climate by boosting feelings of autonomy, competence, relatedness, and motivation.
Classroom Activities These classroom and lab activities use data, simulations or modeling to teach geoscience topics. Examples include the use of model output, chemical analyses, remote sensing data, interactive data tools, or large databases. Refine the Results↓ Subject Biology 48 matches Chemistry 13 matches Economics 19 matches
What is a Simulation? Experiential learning such as simulation has been promoted as a means to challenge student's misconceptions (McClintock, 2000). Experiential learning encourages higher-order learning, which promotes critical thinking abilities and self-directed learning (Kreber, 2001).
Simulation had its beginning about 1500 years ago in the game of chess. Two players attempted to simulate a battle between opposing forces. War games eventually developed from this early form of chess. Even though war games have long enjoyed popularity, it was not until the nineteen fifties and sixties that simulation began to be
When covering nursing concepts such as functional ability or sensory perception, have students take turns experiencing the blind or deaf patient's point of view during simulation or a classroom activity by having the student wear a blindfold or earplugs respectively.
Student performance can be improved with simulations implemented in a classroom. • Simulations create a more student-centered classroom that can enhance student perceptions of autonomy, competence, connectedness, and motivation. Abstract Background Simulation is a common active learning strategy.
The basic theory behind simulations is to allow students to assume the roles of other people and act out scenarios in order to gain deeper insight into historical events or phenomena. Several national companies specialize in designing simulations, but teachers can and do create their own.
ABSTRACT Simulation is an experiential instructional method that teachers create to imitate or replicate actual events, problems, procedures, or skills to achieve the desired instructional results ...
Simulation Activities. By: Carmen Willings teachingvisuallyimpaired.com ... Find a requested item in a familiar and unfamiliar classroom. Provide the student with a set of keys and request that they open a locked door. Play catch with a playground ball, a tennis ball or a beach ball.
Creative scenarios and simulations can be used to make students more active in their learning and to increase their research skills. Objectives To encourage students to extrapolate beyond the information they receive in class. To stimulate creative and original thinking by having students look at their knowledge from a new perspective.
This article describes classroom activities using simulation and explores its impact on student knowledge and perceptions. Methods. Third-year baccalaureate nursing students enrolled in an adult health alterations course participated in the study. Classroom simulations were performed in a lecture hall and were designed to engage students in the ...
Simulations engage students in ways that few other activities can. Teacher Max Fischer, the author of a book of simulation activities for the social studies classroom, shares his initial simulation experiences, his process for creating simulations, and tips for using simulations in the classroom.
The Interactives are intended to be used by the individual student or learner who is attempting to further understand the concept or by a teacher-led classroom as part of a lesson or homework assignment. Most of the Interactives are accompanied by an activity sheet that suggests ways to use the Interactive. Learn more About the Physics ...
The way you and your students use these online classroom simulation games depends on each particular simulation. You may assign them as independent work, homework, use them as a group in the computer lab or lead the class through a simulation on an interactive whiteboard. References Source: author's own experience
Digital simulations and games can be used to present a variety of phenomena to students. For example, the Smithsonian Science Education Center's Light Up the Cave simulation is featured at the beginning of the first grade Smithsonian Science for the Classroom "How Can We Light Our Way in the Dark?" module to give students an opportunity to investigate the phenomenon of light sources in a ...
In an effort to build concept development activities into a flipped classroom structure, five learning cycle activities were implemented in a large enrollment first-term general chemistry course that has previously implemented the flipped classroom design. Four of these learning cycle activities incorporated PhET simulations