TechQuest CEP 810

Created by: Jean-Claude Aura Date: April 2009 Page 1

Transcript 2: Online Simulations

H: Now that your plan is all set, how will you make sure students are involved?

JC: The next step is to have students create an online simulation. I took a couple of students

to the automotive workshop, where most accidents happen. If you watch the video,

you’ll see that students themselves explain the consequences of mishandling tools.

That’s important from students’ perspective because they see a peer perform the safety

guide rather than the teacher.

H: What do others have to say about online simulations?

JC: Online simulations have a lot of proponents. If you read simulations expert Chris

O’Neil’s findings on online simulations at www.edutopia.org/online-simulations-

classrooms, here’s what he has to say:

Online simulations are practical. If your students don’t have access to or are far from a

laboratory, then a virtual tool is the next best option.

Online simulations are easy to handle. In a real experiment, if students made a mistake,

they wouldn’t be able to reverse the process. So, in the case of the dissection of a frog,

the frog would have to be thrown away. Now how many frogs would you have on stand-

by? However, in an online simulation, students would learn from their mistakes and

repeat the dissection over and over. Chris points out that a simulated experiment would

allow us to make even more new mistakes and even learn more. I believe he’s trying to

say that students will want to experiment different ways of dissecting a frog even if they

know they’re simply trying to find out what will happen. Perfect strategy for the

inquisitive type.

Online simulations are personalized. That is, students can go about dissecting the frog the

way they like. Gone are the days when students had to follow the teacher’s instructions

to the letter. Now they can learn by trial and error.

Online simulations are very affordable. Chris points out that they are much cheaper than

field trips, in which case you’ll have to ensure transportation along with any extra fees

incurred.

H: Now that you’ve heard what advocates of online simulations think, what do critics of

online simulations have to say:

TechQuest CEP 810

Created by: Jean-Claude Aura Date: April 2009 Page 2

JC: Frankly, there are no 100% opponents to online simulations. Those skeptical of online

simulations simply prefer that students have hands-on experience in the end. They’re

against substituting hands-on experiments with simulated ones, and they believe that

students shouldn’t simply conduct online simulations. You’ll find a detailed description

of the controversy in the New York Times. The major argument held by the College

Board, one of the most powerful organizations in American education, is not whether

online simulations are educationally fit or not. Rather, the debate is over how much

credit should one get for conducting online experiments. Some proponents of online

simulations follow the popular saying: The proof of the pudding is in the eating. In other

words, we’ve tried it and it’s worked. So what’s this fuss all about? For the record, and

here I quote:

“25 states operate public, internet-based schools like the Florida Virtual School, the

nation’s largest, which has some 40,000 students. Virtual High School, a non-profit

school based in Mainyard Mass, has 7,600 students from 30 states and many countries.

Suzanne Patrick, who is President of the North American Council for online learning,

estimated that 60,000 public school students were enrolled in some online Science

course.

H: So, what’s your final say on online simulations?

JC: Personally, I find them extremely useful. I’m not saying that online simulations should

replace hands-on experiments. On the contrary, nothing can replace real life situations,

but at least they could be used to help students experiment in a safe environment until

they are confident enough about their experimenting skills. After that, they can go back

to experimenting in the lab, but this time with an awareness of the consequences of

mishandling experiments. That’s the point I’ve been trying to make.

H: Thank you.