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

Abstract: When designing learning materials, great emphasis is put on creating a 'definitive resource' - but this focus can often lead to the production of inflexible content which follows 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 supporting different 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 review of research into factors influencing their effective use. The complex nature of these factors leads to the conclusion that the notion of a 'definitive' simulation interface is a myth... Editors: Stuart Lee. Interactive demonstrations: Java applet based simulations are linked as examples from this paper for which you will need a Java-aware web browser. The tools used to create the simulations are freely available from the JeLSIM (Java e-Learning SIMulations) website