The concepts of Simulations in exciting and creative, as they can be used in many forms and in most levels of education from K-12 to adult learners. Simulating running a business to managing a household budget are all different way we can take simulation from the computer to the classroom and show students the real world applications. The opportunities are endless if used in the correct way.

A simulation game attempts to copy various activities from "real life" in the form of a game for various purposes such as training, analysis, or prediction. Usually there are no strictly defined goals in the game, with players instead allowed to freely control a character. Well-known examples are war games, business games, and role play simulation. From three basic types of strategic, planning, and learning exercises: games, simulations, and case studies, a number of hybrids are considered, including simulation games that are used as case studies. Comparisons of the merits of simulation games versus other teaching techniques have been carried out by many researchers and a number of comprehensive reviews have been published. (Simulation Game, 2014)

The challenge with Simulations is that they can be viewed simply as games. Simulations can be way more the just games.

The potential complexity and flexibility of recent computer simulation capabilities allows educators to devise instructional games of increasing power and instructional precision. Contemporary digital technologies make it possible to devise ever more sophisticated and pedagogically precise educational games. Instructional designers of these games will benefit, as will the learners who use them, from being better informed of how they work. (Rieber & Noah, 2008)

Thanks to technology we are able to do lot more with simulations in the classroom today.

How It Works

One example of a simulation is The Business Strategy Game, in this simulation, 1 to 5 class members are assigned to run an athletic footwear company that produces and markets both branded and private-label footwear and competes head-to-head against footwear companies run by other members of the class. As many as 12 companies can compete in a single industry grouping (class sizes above 50 are typically divided into two or more industry groups). The companies compete in a global market arena, selling in four geographic regions—Europe-Africa, North America, Asia-Pacific, and Latin America. (How The Business Strategy Game Works — A Quick Overview, 2013)

This simulation was built to teach students what it is like to run a business. They will set the prices for the shoes in the 4 different regions and see the results of their different decisions day by day. The concept of this simulation can be used in a lot of different applications. Using a Simulation can be a one day activity or all semester. It gives teachers the ability to build on concepts each week by seeing how the students are applying in the information that is being taught. The Simulation allows students to see how what they are learning has real world application. One of the issues that teachers have is making lesson seem realistic.

“Instead of being just a list of technologies, long-dead kings and evaporated nations, history in Civilization is an interactive whole: a perfectly functional world. “(Knowles, 2012)

Benefits in the Classroom

“They are immersive virtual worlds that are augmented by a more complex external environment that involves communities of practice, the buying and selling of game items, blogs, and developer communities. In many ways, games have become complex learning systems.” (Oblinger, 2006) There are many ways to teach a lesson but by using a Simulation we are able to utilize Ubiquitous learning, Multimodal meaning and Recursive Feedback.

By most Simulations being online they are accessible by everyone, everywhere. Having students work in groups as discussed in The Business Strategy Game will help student being to understand how collaboration works and making decisions as a team. Each student can take a turn being the CEO and choose their leadership style, will they work collaboratively or will make decisions without the help of their teammates. The simulation allows for many lessons to be taught not just academics.

“The lessons do not involve traditional computer language. Rather, they use simple word commands — like “move forward” or “turn right” — that children can click on and move around to, say, direct an Angry Bird to capture a pig.” (Richtel, 2014) Coding is the wave of future. …”smartphones and apps are ubiquitous now, and engineering careers are hot. To many parents — particularly ones here in the heart of the technology corridor — coding looks less like an extracurricular activity and more like a basic life skill, one that might someday lead to a great job or even instant riches.” (Richtel, 2014) Being able to engage with the coding system right allows for recursive feedback, you will be able to see the students’ progress by what progress the students are making with the commands within the coding program.

Other papers (Shaffer et al. and NESTA Futurelab) describe how games can facilitate learning. It is important to emphasize that games and play may be effective learning environments, not because they are “fun” but because they are immersive, require the player to make frequent, important decisions, have clear goals, adapt to each player individually, and involve a social network. Games have many attributes detailed below that are associated with how people learn.

• Social Games are often social environments, sometimes involving large distributed communities. “It is not the game play per se but the social life around the edge of the game that carries much of the richness in terms of the game’s meaning, its value, and its social and cultural impact.”

• Research. When a new player enters a game, he or she must immediately recall prior learning, decide what new information is needed, and apply it to the new situation. Those who play digital games are often required to read and seek out new information to master the game.

•Problem solving Knowing what information or techniques to apply in which situations enables greater success, specifically, problem solving. This often involves collective action through communities of practice.

• Transfer. Games require transfer of learning from other venues― life, school, and other games. Being able to see the connection and transfer existing learning to a unique situation is part of game play.

•Experiential. Games are inherently experiential. Those who play games engage multiple senses. For each action, there is a reaction. Feedback is swift. Hypotheses are tested, and users learn from the results. (Oblinger, 2006)

Is this just a game?

The drawback of simulations are that people view them solely and simply as games. Because of this view- point they aren’t usually considered to be added to the curriculum. “Assertions that games must be used to make learning “fun” ignore the fact that students who are deeply engaged in learning consider it both fun and hard work.” (Oblinger, 2006) Simulations aren’t always fun but they are engaging which is the point. If students enjoy something that does not mean that it is easy, it could mean they working hard at understanding and mastering what was presented to them.

Simulations aren’t a one size all solution but if they are used to accent the lesson they can be very educational.

Summarize

“It is important to emphasize that games and play may be effective learning environments, not because they are “fun” but because they are immersive, require

the player to make frequent, important decisions, have clear goals, adapt to each player individually, and involve a social network.” (Oblinger, 2006) Games and Simulations can be fun but they can also be used for learning and enhancing the educational journey.

Using a Simulation in Government or History class would allow for the class to see how important it is to balance budgets, civic works and keeping citizen happy. They are built to have challenges and road blocks which make things more realistic. The teacher will have feedback immediately as students’ complete challenge and write- up weekly journal on the experience and what they learned.

How The Business Strategy Game Works — A Quick Overview. (2013). Retrieved from The Business Strategy Game: https://www.bsg-online.com/

Knowles, D. (2012, June 12). Civilzation- the video game that is as much a history simulator as it is entertainment. The Telegraph, p. 1.

Oblinger, D. (2006, May). Simulations, Games, and Learning. Retrieved from Educause: https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/eli3004.pdf

Richtel, M. (2014, May 10). Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, and Lately, Coding. NY Times, p. 1.

Rieber, L., & Noah, D. (2008). Games, Simulations, and Visual Metaphors in Education: Antagonism between Enjoyment and Learning. Educational Media International , 77-92.

Simulation Game. (2014, May). Retrieved from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulation_game#cite_note-1

Rieber, L. P., & Noah, D. (2008). Games, Simulations, and Visual Metaphors in Education: Antagonism between Enjoyment and Learning. Educational Media International, 45(2), 77-92.