Simulation is a technique for rehearsal and for acquiring practical experience that can be applied to any practical application of knowledge. It is a technique (not a technology) to replicate and amplify real experiences with guided instruction, often immersive in nature, that evoke or replicate substantial aspects of the real world in a fully interactive fashion. Immersive here implies that participants are engaged in a task or setting as if it were in the real world.
See video–Valdosta State University: https://youtu.be/0Gh38f0sGi8
- How would or could you use simulations in your classroom?
- What might simulations allow you to observe that could not be accomplished any other way?
Simulations — mini-teaches — allow us to see how and if student teachers can think on their feet to deal with unforeseen or unknown responses or questions from their audience. Do they get defensive? Do they respond appropriately? Do they try to bluff through a response or do they acknowledge they need to look up information to be certain? These are all important aspects that can be gleaned from the simulation between student nurses/teachers and patients/students prior to actually being in a real clinical/classroom experience.