Simulation laboratory materials for the education of teachers of the mentally retarded

The enhancement of effective decision-making and problem-solving skills for special education teachers is a challenge to teacher educators. During the fall semester, 1969, simulation was used as a basic technique for achieving this development in teachers of the mentally retarded. The simulation kit, as developed, included background materials on a simulated community, school system, and school, all of which constituted the setting. A district policy handbook, the state special education guidelines, and the cumulative records of pupils in the simulated classroom were provided to the participants in the simulation-based course offered for credit on the graduate level at the University of Houston. Realism was enhanced by the use of pictures, slides, and films, which enabled the participants to become acquainted with the setting in which they role-played the central character, a new teacher of the mentally retarded. [...]Education, College o