Simulation is the technique of emulating the performance of a procedure by the use of an appropriate analogous situation or device for the purpose of learning or training. Simulation provides a safe and supportive learning environment that permits learners across all levels to practise and improve skills where errors entail no consequences.
Simulation encourages learners to gain skills through experience in a life-like environment where individual learning styles and the rate of learning can be adjusted. One of the benefits of simulation is that it can accommodate creation of scenarios to fit the needs of training and the trainee. Skills gained from use of simulation can easily be transferred to real life settings. A key advantage of simulation in education is that it can present as useful summative and formative assessment tool.
Simulations is a useful part of active learning techniques that can help students to combine course content with real-life scenarios. Simulation enables the recreation of real-life scenarios in the classroom where learners can actively engage, interact, and communicate thereby promoting learning. Disciplines that have adopted simulations include business studies, political science, education, psychology and sociology. One of the main reasons that these disciplines favour simulation is due to simulation’s capability to capture learners’ imagination and relate it to real-world scenarios. Tertiary education tends to focus more on theories and concepts and less on the practical application of those. Therefore, the use of simulation is particularly useful in tertiary education because of its tendency to provide an avenue to bridge the gap between theory and practice.
Clinical simulation has been in use from the second half of the 20thcentury. One of the earliest benefits from simulation was its use in resuscitation training. Simulation provided a relatively low-cost method that as easily available. In later years the advances in technologies led to the development of simulation that imitated a human patient. However, the cost of technology at the time in creating a model and non-acceptance of any other form of training except internships. Later years have seen more acceptance of simulation in the medical education one of the driving factors is the need for graduates to be well prepared. Simulation has been viewed as a safe and protected, and a comprehensive educational method for training undergraduate and postgraduate trainees as well as established practitioners.
Teaching human rights using simulations demonstrated that it contributed to deeper learning and positive response to the curriculum. Findings were based on a simulation of a United Nations (UN) human rights treaty body review that utilised both face-to-face and online environments. Student surveys, evaluations and peer reviews were used to arrive at the conclusions presented by this study.
The study found that simulations are a dynamic learning method that reconstructs real-life situations. As a pedagogical tool in the classroom, simulations can bridge the gap between knowing and doing by engaging students and promoting learning. Participating in face-to-face and online simulations have the potential to promote the learning of skills. Even though there is a huge difference between the environments of face-to-face and online learning, online simulations possess the ability to engage and connect students. It also helps to construct online learning communities. A precondition for online simulations to be effective is that students need to be confident in their use of the technology. However, one of the key challenges for online simulations can be the difficulty of incorporating group work. A more hands-on role by the teaching staff could mitigate this issue to some extent.
Simulation has been used to immerse students in a scientific environment for a lesson in trigonometry. For the online simulation students were allowed to perform the roles of scientists actively engaged in creating new knowledge. The instructor closely monitored and initiated students’ activities and continued to observe, guide and discuss the procedure with the students throughout the lesson taking the role of facilitator. Use of simulation in a physics environment was found to be a useful method for inductive reasoning which is commonly used in science. Inductive reasoning bears the characteristics of constructivist methods where learners construct their own realities instead of following instructions given to them. Using simulation was useful in creating a rich scientific context for students to practice and learn through inductive learning.
During their sessions on the virtual labs, students were able to create hypotheses, discern the various scientific processes, develop and create mathematical models, take measurements and validate them. Learners were also able to make predictions based on their observations, modify and experiment with the variables. This illustrates that learners can easily transfer the skills learned in a virtual environment via simulation to a real-world scenario. Students found the learning environment engaging and interesting and it positively affected their learning outcomes. The authors recommend further research to understand the influence of simulation in mathematical knowledge in order for it to be applied to other subject areas.
A study that investigated the effectiveness of a simulation game in teaching a undergraduate level human resource management course revealed that when learners are intrinsically motivated, they put more efforts into learning and will apply the skills gained to contexts outside the simulated environment. With reference to input-process-outcome model, it was argued that the content of the game, the competence level of the learners, their demographic and personalities consist of the input. These characteristics are believed to influence the outcome which in the case of the simulation game equates to the learning outcome. The process relates to the interaction between the learners and the simulation.
Learning from simulation was also related to interactive cognitive theory where learning is enhanced by the interaction between cognitive and affective characteristics of students. This means that simulation acts as a positive link that connects students’ skills, knowledge and competencies and their attitude and motivation towards learning. The fact that simulation acts as entertainment and a source of active learning reinforces this argument.
The human resource management simulation enabled students to compete as teams in an organisational setting. Students took various roles in the organisation including human resource director, wage administrator, training director, and operations liaison. By taking these roles, students were able to make HR related decisions that affected the organisation throughout the duration of the simulated period of 15 weeks. Based on the outcomes from the 69 students put into 22 teams where a team comprised 2 to 4 participants, the study revealed that students’ competency increased by 40% by the end of the simulation period. Familiarity of the technology was found to impact the level of competency. Further research is needed to identify how the skills gained from the simulation experience affected its application in a real world scenario.
In spite of the potential advantages of using simulation in medical training, the biggest challenge for its use in the medical profession is the lack of research that reveals its usefulness. While there are substantial literature-based studies, empirical and evidence-based studies are needed to guarantee the funding that is necessary for the development and widespread use of simulation in training.
The above discussion illustrates that simulation has the potential to be used as a method of learning to compensate for real-world experiences when such experiences may not be available, maybe too costly or risky to utilise in a classroom setting. Existing research indicates that the skills and experiences can be effectively replaced in real-life situations. However, most of the current studies indicate that this need to be established with ongoing and further research.
References
Bradley, P. (2006). The history of simulation in medical education and possible future directions. Medical Education, Vol. 40, pp. 254–262. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2929.2006.02394.x
Hartley, L. and McGaughey, F (2018). Using Online and Face-to-Face Simulations in Human Rights Tertiary Teaching: A Comparative Analysis, Journal of Human Rights Practice, Volume 10, Issue 1, pp. 125–141, https://doi-org.ezproxy.aut.ac.nz/10.1093/jhuman/huy008
Hendy, Nhung T. (2018). Academy of Management Annual Meeting Proceedings. 2018, Vol. 2018 Issue 1, p1-6. 6p. DOI: 10.5465/AMBPP.2018.93
Sokolowski, Andrzej; Rackley, Robin (2011). Teaching harmonic motion in trigonometry: Inductive inquiry supported by physics simulations. Australian Senior Mathematics Journal, Vol. 25, No. 1 pp. 45-53.
Amira Fathimath 