Improving Learning with Technology-Enhanced Simulations
With computers, faculty members and instructional designers can combine media to simulate real-life environments, objects, characters, and experiences. By enabling students to interact with, and in, such environments, instructors facilitate the type of active inquiry described by Jean Piaget in 1964: "To know an object is to act on it. To know is to modify, to transform the object, and to understand the process of this transformation, and as a consequence to understand the way the object is constructed" (p. 176). Using technology-enhanced simulations and virtual environments, students can
- observe and/or collect data on a rare or remote event, environment, or process;
- juxtapose visible and invisible data;
- facilitate the manipulation of environmental variables;
- map the influence of those changes on subsequent processes; and
- practice skills that are too expensive, difficult, or dangerous to practice in real life.
Computers not only enable instructors to provide safe, consistent, and infinitely repeatable exposure to a potentially rich virtual environment, they also provide opportunities for instructors and students to observe, record, and analyze performances and, consequently, enhance post-performance assessment and debriefing.
Seminar
October 4, 2006
12:00-1:30 p.m.
402 Walter Library
East Bank, Twin Cities campus
If you missed the seminar, you can view a UMConnect Meeting recording of the session.
Panelists discussed how simulations enable students to gain and use task-related knowledge in authentic contexts, manipulate artifacts, and explore realistic environments.
Moderators:
Chris Scruton and Kurtis Scaletta
Digital Media Center, Office of Information Technology, Twin Cities campus
Panelists:
Nora Paul
Institute for New Media Studies, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Twin Cities campus
John Soderberg
Department of Anthropology, College of Liberal Arts, Twin Cities Campus
Robert Sweet
Department of Urologic Surgery; Department of Surgery; Simulation Center; and Center for Research in Education and Simulation Technologies (CREST), Medical School, Academic Health Center, Twin Cities Campus
Panelists' Projects
A summary of Nora Paul and Kathleen Hansen's "Behind the Message" Neverwinter Nights modification project is available on the "'Never Winter Nights' in the Classroom" page. On February 7, 2006, Paul and Hansen participated in a Midmorning discussion on serious games; a streaming audio recording is available.
As director of the Academic Health Center's Simulation Center, Rob Sweet organized a symposium in 2005, "Simulation in Healthcare at the University of Minnesota: Transforming Education."
The virtual reconstruction work of John Soderberg and his colleagues in the Department of Anthropology's Evolutionary Anthropology Laboratories is accessible via the "Three-Dimensional Modeling and Surface Characterization in Anthropology" project page.
Preliminary Readings
Situated Cognition and Anchored Instruction: Theory
Bransford, J. D., et al. "Anchored Instruction: Why We Need It and How Technology Can Help." In Cognition, Education and Multimedia: Exploring Ideas in High Technology, edited by Don Nix and Rand Spiro, 115-141. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum Associates, 1990.
Bransford, J. D., and B. S. Stein. The Ideal Problem Solver (2nd edition). New York: Freeman, 1993.
Brown, J. S., A. Collins, and S. Duguid. "Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning." Educational Researcher 18:1 (1989): 32–42.
Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt (CTGV). "Anchored Instruction and Its Relationship to Situated Cognition." Educational Researcher 19:6 (1990): 2–10.
______. "Anchored Instruction and Situated Cognition Revisited." Educational Technology 33:3 (1993): 52–70.
Piaget, Jean. "Cognitive Development in Children: Development and Learning." Journal of Research in Science Teaching 2:2 (1964): 176–186.
Bransford and colleagues, Brown and colleagues, and the Cognition and Technology Group at Vanderbilt (CTGV) build on the work of Piaget and other cognitive psychologists who suggested that learning is most effective when embedded in a realistic (also called 'authentic') problem-solving context. They propose that cognition and learning are intimately bound with activity; i.e., the 'substance' of learning—the information, concepts, and relationships we commonly think of as constituting knowledge—is fundamentally inseparable from the situations in which it is learned and, later, practiced in real world contexts. Whereas traditional school activities have tended to emphasize conceptual/theoretical activities divorced from the real world contexts in which such theories are applied, these authors generally favor 'authentic' learning activities in which students address problems structured like those confronting real world expert practitioners. Using professional practice as a framework, they advocate using collaborative group work, peer learning, and iterative problem-solving activities.
Situated Cognition and Anchored Instruction: Practice
Etheris, Ahmad Ibrahim, and Seng Chee Tan. "Computer-Supported Collaborative Problem Solving and Anchored Instruction in a Mathematics Classroom: An Exploratory Study." International Journal of educational technology 1:1 (2004): 16–39.
Ahmad Ibrahim Etheris and Seng Chee Tan provide a detailed illustration of how authentic learning activities might be structured and supported in practice.
Squire, Kurt, Levi Giovanetto, Ben Devane, and Shree Durga. "From Users to Designers: Building a Self-Organizing Game-Based Learning Environment." TechTrends 49:5 (2005): 34–42 & 74.
Squire et al. explore the individual and social processes by which students develop first facility and then mastery of game-based learning environments. Although the primary goal of the authors is to make a case for the efficacy of self-organized learning environments for pre-college students, their description of the process of expertise development and metacognition is instructive for higher education instructors considering how best to incorporate such experiences into a course or curriculum. With Hmelo et al. and Lee, the experiences reported Squire et al. suggest that iterative play and the availability of peer, instructor, or content 'scaffolds' early in the process may improve students' enjoyment and learning.
Educational Games and Simulations: Theory
Abt, Clark. Serious Games. New York: Viking Press, 1970.
The first extended exploration of the educational value of games and simulations, Abt's book provides a useful introduction to the potential motivational, cognitive, and social benefits of using games to support learning.
Aldrich, Clark. Simulations and the Future of Learning: An Innovative (and Perhaps Revolutionary) Approach to e-Learning. San Francisco: Pfeiffer, 2003.
Despite the title, this seems aimed primarily at the corporate training market. Aldrich does, however, draw some lessons from the video game market that may prove helpful in designing more effective instructional simulations. For example, he emphasizes the importance of authentic contexts, appropriate challenges, realistic constraints (e.g., limited financial, informational, temporal, or human resources), non-linearity, and replayability.
Bell, Benjamin, Ray Bareiss, and Richard Beckwith. "The Role of Anchored Instruction in the Design of a Hypermedia Science Museum Exhibit," 1987, ERIC ID: ED363636.
Bell and his colleagues describe how they developed a system for contextualizing knowledge about genetics and sickle cell disease in which museum visitors played the role of genetic counselors. The inquiry process was supported by virtual laboratory tests, simulated client interviews, and an on-demand expert knowledge system that visitors consulted as required. This anchored instruction and provided a framework for improving both content understanding and concept retention . In their report, the authors provide a useful description of how to develop a simulation scenario and illustrations of how that scenario was enacted in virtual lab and interview interfaces.
Gee, James Paul. What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Teaching and Learning. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.
Gee suggests that video games have a lot to tell us about how we might better teach important cognitive concepts like identity formation, the semiotic representations of identity in "embodied experience," etc. Although not specifically about the development of educational simulations, Gee's book includes a great deal of useful information about how to order and frame problems in simulations. For instance, he details how gradual increases in the level of challenge can motivate students without overwhelming them and how appropriately timing the release of background information can improve understanding and retention.
Greenblat, Cathy Stein. Designing Games and Simulations: An Illustrated Handbook. New York: SAGE, 1988.
Although aimed principally at the paper-and-pencil social science game market, Greenblat's guide provides a great deal of information that will be of interest to developers of technology-enhanced simulations, including how to design simulation scenarios; develop game and simulation components; run the simulation experience; and manage outcomes (by debriefing and assessing participants, etc.).
Harper, Barry, David Squires, and Anne McDougall. "Constructivist Simulations: A New Design Paradigm." Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia 9:2 (2000): 115–130.
Harper, Squires, and McDougall describe an approach to designing and implementing hybrid learning simulations that embed appropriate didactic content in an authentic experiential context, illustrated with examples from two natural sciences simulations. For more on the efficacy of the hybrid (as opposed to the "pure") simulation approach, see the review of Lee's "Effectiveness of Computer-Based Instructional Simulation," below.
Educational Games and Simulations: Practice
Kiegaldi, Debra, and Geoff White. "The Virtual Patient: Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of an Innovative Computer Simulation for Post-Graduate Nursing Students." Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia 15:1 (2006): 31–47.
Kiegaldi and White report on a tool they created to support nursing students' critical care training. By creating an authentic environment in which students assess patients' realistic physical cues and lab data in real time and interact with other members of the care team and subject matter experts, developers achieved their aims of providing students with experiences that approximate those of real life without endangering the lives of critically ill patients and increasing students' confidence in the correctness of their clinical assessments. Of particular interest is the authors' discussion of Lev Vygotski's conception of "zones of proximal development" and the ways in which learning scaffolds were built into the structure of Virtual Patient cases.
Shortridge, Ann, and George Sabo. "Exploring the Potential of Web-Based Social Process Experiential Simulations." Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia 14:4 (2005): 375–390.
Building on the success of an informational CD-ROM project, First Americans: Native Americans and Europeans in the Mississippi Valley, that offered students opportunities to engage issues of multiculturalism in evaluating and writing about primary sources, Shortridge and Sabo sought to create a learning environment in which students could explore a simulated historical environment, engage in role-playing activities with fellow student, and use an array of digital communication, visualization, and collaboration tools to construct knowledge about their experiences. In this review, the authors describe how they converted evaluation findings from their initial CD-ROM offering into a design plan for their second project, detail scenario and role generation for students' simulated microworld exploration, and test their initial prototype to determine if students' experience of the simulation produces the desired evidence of critical thinking in their work products.
Vincent, Andrew, and John Shepherd. "Experiences in Teaching Middle East Politics via Internet-based Role-Play Simulations." Journal of Interactive Media in Education 98:11 (1998). Online at http://www-jime.open.ac.uk/98/11/vincent-98-11-t.html (visited August 23, 2004).
Andrew Vincent and John Shepherd provide a thoughtful analysis of why using technology in a Middle East policy-making simulation improved students' learning experiences. They provide a great deal of useful detail about scenario development and administration as well as examples of student feedback. They describe the instructional goals and objectives, illustrate aspects of the simulation, and detail the instructor's assessment methods in a video available online at http://www-jime.open.ac.uk/98/11/vincent-movie.html.
Educational Games and Simulations: Meta-Evaluation
Lee, June. "Effectiveness of Computer-Based Instructional Simulation: A Meta-Analysis." International Journal of Instructional Media 26:1 (1999): 71–85.
Although Lee's sample of 19 studies is relatively small and discontinuous, his preliminary findings are suggestive with respect to best teaching practices relating to simulation. First, when simulations are used in "presentation" mode (i.e., the simulation is used as an opportunity to "teach new knowledge"), a hybrid instructional approach (an approach in which, at key points in a simulation an instructor or preceptor breaks students out of the simulation for a brief interlude of didactic instruction) is more effective than what Lee terms "pure simulation" (i.e., when students are forced to make sense of situations and/or phenomena on their own). Second, if the hybrid approach is used, simulations may be used with equal success as practice tools (i.e., opportunities for applying material learned first in a didactic setting, through reading, lecture-discussion, etc.) or as presentation tools (i.e., students work through simulation materials until a teachable moment arises at which point the instructor breaks into the simulation briefly before returning students to their simulation). Third, regardless of whether the instructor employs simulations as practice or as presentation, Lee found that students who receive procedural and practical guidance before and during the simulation perform better than those left to explore entirely on their own. Finally, although arguably the most authentic approach, students left entirely on their own (in what Lee terms "pure simulation") unsurprisingly reported "a negative attitude toward simulation." It's interesting to compare Lee's preliminary findings with those of Hmelo et al., above -- if the degree of challenge is appropriate and an instructor or preceptor is available to support students as they develop problem-solving practices and knowledge structures necessary to solve ill-structured real world problems, simulations can prove both motivating and effective as tools for situating didactic content in an authentic practical context.
Virtual Field Trips & Virtual Artifacts: Theory & Practice
Barta-Smith, Nancy A., and James T. Hathaway. "Making Cyberspaces into Cyberplaces." Journal of Geography 99:6 (2000): 253–265.
Based on phenomenological and semiotic theory, the authors consider the full range of experiences that make up a real-life field trip and how the metaphors underlying the design of virtual field trips may accommodate such experiences or make them impossible. They include recommendations about how to develop pedagogically rich virtual field trips, including how to create opportunities for learners to wander, to interact with the virtual environment, and to provide a context for the engagement. While too theoretical to serve as specific guidelines for designers, these recommendations are interesting and important.
Bogen, Manfred, and Roland Kuck. "Reconstructing and Presenting Bernini's Borghese Sculptures" in J. Trant and D. Bearman (eds.), Museums and the Web 2005: Proceedings. Toronto: Archives & Museum Informatics, published March 31, 2005 at http://www.archimuse.com/mw2005/papers/bogen/bogen.html.
Bogen and Kuck relate an effort not only to digitally reconstruct four 17-century Gian Lorenzo Bernini sculptures but to place them in the original, interactive arrangement designed for them by Bernini. The author describe the equipment and software necessary to effect such a reconstruction and design considerations affecting the developers' approach to creating and displaying artifactual reconstructions.
Spicer, J. J., and J. Stratford. "Student Perceptions of a Virtual Field Trip to Replace a Real Field Trip." Journal of Computer Assisted Learning 17 (2001): 345–354.
In this article, the authors discuss virtual field trips used as replacements for real-life experiences based on an ecology lesson for undergraduate students. Spicer and Stratford reveal both how students respond to virtual field trips as well as how designers can create enjoyable virtual experiences. For example, most students liked the experience, but few felt it should replace a real field trip, and most would prefer a virtual field trip be used to prepare for a real field trip. Also, few students felt the experience was personal or truly interactive, but most felt it was interesting and worthwhile. The implications are important, but the narrow range of virtual experiences considered limit their usefulness.
Tolva, John. "Recontextualizing the Collection: Virtual Reconstruction, Replacement, and Repatriation" in J. Trant and D. Bearman (eds.), Museums and the Web 2005: Proceedings. Toronto: Archives & Museum Informatics, published March 31, 2005 at http://www.archimuse.com/mw2005/papers/tolva/tolva.html.
In this conference presentation, Tolva foregrounds the challenges of virtual reconstruction and demonstrates the importance of situating these scenes and artifacts in an appropriate context. The author briefly describes three projects that exemplify issues of preservation, representation, and explanation, from the development of a virtual museum that faithfully represented artifacts as they appeared on display in the Hermitage Museum to more ambitious projects placing artifacts in visual and spatial contexts that approximate the environments in which they would've been found historically or in the sites in which they were discovered by later investigators. Important aspects of the latter simulations were (1) the possibility afforded users to actually 'pick up' and 'manipulate' entire objects or nodal sub-assemblies and (2) the degree to which supplementary information was linked to elements of the artifact and its context, thus enabling students to learn didactic content in an authentic situation.
Tuthill, Gail, and E. Barbara Klemm. "Virtual Field Trips: Alternatives to Actual Field Trips." International Journal of Instructional Media 29:4 (2002): 453–468.
Tuthill and Klemm describe the tension between the advantages and disadvantages of direct field experiences. On the one hand, they can connect classroom theory and real world practice; expose students to realistically messy identification and analysis problems; and motivate students through exposure to relevant, practical experiences. On the other hand, it can be difficult to transport students to remote locations; to ensure that students can hear and see items of interest; and to diminish cognitive complexity as students attempt to "simultaneously [take] in their surroundings [while] making detailed observations, [listen] to the speaker, and [take] good notes while in the field" (p. 454). The authors believe technology offers an opportunity to mitigate some of these problems while retaining many of the advantages. Their experience, however, suggests that not all virtual field trips are created equal—those commercially available off-the-shelf may prove to be less effective than field trips tailored to specific course topics.
Examples
University of Minnesota instructors have developed a number of technology-enhanced simulation and virtual field trip activities; several such projects are highlighted in the Exemplary Projects section of our site, including the following.
Buhr, Brian, Chris Scruton, and Christina Goodland. "Using WebCT and Basic Software Tools to Teach Futures Trading." In Faculty Guide for Moving Teaching and Learning to the Web, 2nd ed., by Judith V. Boettcher and Rita-Marie Conrad. League for Innovation in the Community College, 2004.
Brian Buhr developed a WebCT-delivered trading commodities simulation that mimics conditions in the real market. Students analyze market conditions, observe trading behavior in both the classroom and the real-world markets, develop buying/selling strategies, and communicate the rationale for these strategies to Buhr and their peers. For details and illustrations of some key elements, visit our Web-Based Trading Simulation page.
Perry, Jim, Steve Simmons, and Toni McNaron. "Campus Quest: A Case-Based Approach to Environmental Management" 1999―2000 TEL Grant proposal. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1999. http://dmc.umn.edu/small-grants/1999/prop21.shtml.
The investigators developed a pair of CD-ROM-delivered decision cases for agronomy and natural resource management students. The first simulates the process of policy formation. Students use digital resources as they gather information, evaluate potential strategies, and compose a memo proposing a solution to the problem posed by their virtual client. The second is an entirely self-contained decision-making simulation. Students select a series of policy goals, allocate finite budgetary resources, and react to a series of realistic events (including cost overruns, natural and environmental variables, and political/bureaucratic roadblocks). For details and illustrations of some key interactions, visit our Campus Quest CD-ROM page.
Wattrus, Nigel, and Howard Mooers. "Interactive GEOWALL Visualization Modules for Introductory Geology" 2002-2003 TEL Grant proposal. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 2003.
Wattrus, Nigel, and John Goodge. "GEOWALL Development at UMD" 2004 TEL Grant proposal. Duluth: University of Minnesota, 2004.
Over the course of two TEL grants, Nigel Wattrus, Howard Mooers, and John Goodge created an array of GEOWALL modules to aid students in developing 3D and 4D visualization skills and to help them prepare for more effective field experiences. Not only does the system facilitate projection of topographic features and deep geologic structure in three-dimensional relief, it also enables instructors to layer descriptive and explanatory information on top of these representations, creating opportunities for learning or reviewing didactic content in an authentic setting. For details and illustrations of some key elements, visit our Interactive GEOWALL Visualization Modules for Introductory Geology case study page.
