Putting Teachers in the Loop: Tools for Creating and Customising Simulations

Abstract

A b s t r a c t :When designing learning materials, great emphasis is put on creating a 'definitive re s o u rce' -but this focus can often lead to the production of inflexible content which f o l l ows a fixed pedagogy and fails to cater to individual learning styles and teaching situations. If this is recognised, tools can be produced that allow the teacher to customise generic components to provide a tailored learning experience support i n g d i f f e rent teaching approaches and scenarios and addressing a wider range of learning styles. This paper will relate these ideas to the use of online simulations in science and engineering education. In support of this, the educational benefits of simulations are outlined, followed by a re v i ew of re s e a rch into factors influencing their effective use.The complex nature of these factors leads to the conclusion that the notion of a ' d e f i n i t i ve' simulation interface is a myth. Simulation users must be empowe red by tools allowing them to take control of the design process. The range of changes which could be facilitated by giving teachers the tools to alter simulation visualisations are discussed and demonstrated with examples of simulations and online learning materials produced using a suite of tools for creating and customising educational simulations, Je L S I M .Keywords: Ja va, e-Learning, simulations, education. Interactive Demonstration:Ja va applet based simulations are linked as examples from this paper for which yo u will need a Ja va -a w a re web brow s e r. The tools used to create the simulations are f reely available from the JeLSIM (Ja va eLearning SIMulations) website. C o m m e n t a r i e s :

Situated Expertise in Integrating Use of Multimedia Simulation into Secondary Science Teaching

“…Richer useroriented interactivity could tailor the learning process better to an individual's responses and could adapt to the varied pedagogical approaches that teachers evidently employ. Thomas and Milligan (2004) offer a template tool (JeLSIM) for creating and customizing simulations to support different teaching approaches and individual learning styles through a range of common visualization objects illustrating the outputs of a model. Instructional designers might also draw on the methods teachers use to address children's misconceptions, and use these to inform the design of simulation environments deliberately constructed to elicit and address common everyday beliefs.…”

Self-Regulation and Feedback in an Educational Statistics Course

“…Simulation assessments that provide immediate feedback may communicate to the learner information about performance in real-time. This valuable information provides greater positive impact on self-regulation as students are granted opportunities to immediately self-reflect and assess their actions to remediate errors (Thomas and Milligan, 2004;Wiggins, 2001). Aplia conforms to these ideas by providing students with ample practice exercises that are repeatable (by clicking the "try again" button) throughout the course.…”

Water management simulation games and the construction of knowledge

“…Although simulation games clearly alter the teacherlearner relationship, teachers have not become obsolete: "it is not sufficient to provide learners with simulations and expect them to engage with the subject matter and build their own understanding by exploring, devising and testing hypotheses" (Thomas and Milligan, 2004). Simulations require feedback and support from the teacher.…”

“…Key characteristics and processes of that situation, event or activity are mimicked through the simulation game. In this mimicry, a trade-off usually exists between the degree to which the simulation is "real" or accurate and the effort required in playing this game (Lankford and Watson, 2007;Oblinger, 2004;Thomas and Milligan, 2004). Figure 1 presents the generic structure of a simulation game for a complex (integrated) water resources management system.…”

“…Although diverse theories and perspectives on education and learning have surfaced over time, a consensus has emerged that "knowledge is created, rather than transferred" (Wright et al, 1994). Consequently, rather than passively digest knowledge conveyed by teachers, students should "actively engage in the experience" (Thomas and Milligan, 2004). This paradigm shift calls for a shift in teaching methods and tools to activate students.…”