Simulations are teaching and learning scenarios wherein the teacher defines the context of a situation and the pupils interact within it. It is through participation in these real-world scenarios that students will gather meaning. The simulations are often simplified versions of more complicated, abstract concepts, or distillation of real life if you will.
As simulations are rooted in reality, they will thus engage learners and motivate their learning as it is clear the application to their own lives (United Nations, 2012). The Education for Sustainable Development pedagogies that are activated through using simulations as a method of instruction are:
- Engage pupils with visual, auditory, and tactile-kinesthetic learning modalities, thereby promoting equity
- Address real-life problems that face communities and add relevance to the curriculum
- Promote higher-order thinking skills (United Nations, 2012).
Teaching simulations usually involves the teaching of academic concepts that are related to the simulation, describing the context, explaining the rules of the simulation, the monitoring of activities as the students engage and the provision of guidance if necessary, and the reflection of the simulation experience after the fact (United Nations, 2012).
I see simulations as a method of authentic assessment. Authentic assessment is an assessment that supports classroom instruction, collects evidence from a variety of activities, promotes learning and teaching with students, and reflects the values, standards, and controls of the teaching milieu (Frey et al., 2012).
An assessment is authentic if it is realistic, applicable to the students' life, requires the student to actively participate in the subject, replicates a real-world task, assess the students’ ability to efficiently and effectively use the taught concepts, requires innovation and judgment, and allows for opportunities to rehearse, practice, and get feedback (Authentic assessment, n.d.).
The need for authentic assessment that integrates knowledge rather than fragmenting is and allows students to not only demonstrate their knowledge but also apply it to their own lives in a relevant manner is immediate (Butler & McMunn, 2009). Particularly when the curriculum is assessed to show that learners are instructed via constructivist pedagogies, assessment in terms of quantitative data points rather than qualitative evaluation is off track.
Student-centric learning and assessment demands that learners are responsible for setting their own objectives and teachers should assess those goals frequently to ensure they meet international standards. Aligning learning activities, teaching methods, and assessments is critical to student success (Schreurs & Dumbraveanu, 2014).
Normally, I apply simulations to my instruction by tasking the students with solving a real-world problem. This allows the students to use the language skills they have learned throughout the unit and apply them to a real-life situation. This is a great opportunity to bring in artifacts that focus on concepts of sustainability and allow students to engage in inquiry-based learning (Barron & Darling-Hammond, 2008).
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