Simulation
Simulation refers to the creation of a model that closely imitates the key characteristics, functions, or behaviors of a system or process. It serves various purposes across educational, research, and commercial sectors, allowing individuals to engage in a controlled environment that mirrors real-world situations without the associated risks. There are three primary styles of simulations: live, virtual reality, and constructive. Live simulations recreate actual scenarios where participants perform tasks using real equipment, such as training new employees in manufacturing. Virtual reality simulations create immersive, artificial environments, exemplified by NASA's training for astronauts, which simulates living conditions in space. Constructive simulations involve sophisticated computerized settings that react to the participants' decisions, often used in military training to prepare service members for complex operational scenarios. While simulations offer valuable hands-on learning experiences, they do require considerable investment to develop effectively and must be designed accurately to ensure they provide realistic training. However, potential drawbacks include high costs, the necessity for accurate modeling, and the risk of providing participants with a false sense of competence if real-life challenges are not incorporated.
Simulation
A simulation is a model of a functioning system or process that is meant to be an exact or very close imitation of the key characteristics, functions, or behaviors of the system or process. Simulations can be formal or informal; formal simulations generally are one of three styles: live, virtual reality, or constructive. Many simulations are a combination of these.
Simulation Styles
Live simulations are exactly what they sound like: a re-creation of a situation in which people are using equipment or conducting activities in a particular setting. The simulation environment is designed to closely imitate the real-world operation. It is meant to represent the actual physical environment and conditions under which some process occurs. For example, new employees in a manufacturing plant may learn how to complete tasks on a processor by being trained in a simulated environment that includes equipment much like that on the factory floor. The benefit of this type of simulation is for employees to learn how to use machinery or learn new processes without interrupting or disrupting actual production flow.
Virtual reality simulations are synthetic (artificial) environments that use technology to essentially create a self-contained world. Virtual reality simulations are meant to be an immersive experience. The point of such an experience is to give participants the opportunity to live or work in a reality that is very different from the one they know. For example, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) relies on a complex virtual reality simulator to help astronauts learn what it will be like to live and work in space. The simulator is designed to exactly mimic the harsh atmosphere and living restrictions outside of Earth’s atmosphere. It is a no-gravity environment; therefore, the participants begin to understand how their bodies will respond in a spacecraft. They learn what it is like to have to wear specialized clothing and conduct complicated operations at a great distance from Earth-bound engineers.
Constructive simulations are highly sophisticated, computerized environments that are designed to be reactive to participant actions. In other words, the choices and behaviors of the participants produce different results. These environments are highly sophisticated and require a serious investment to be engineered, maintained, and updated. One application of constructive simulations is military services, such as branches of the armed forces. The armed forces use constructive simulations to prepare service members for the realities of life in dangerous, highly militarized zones. For example, fighter pilots are trained to operate aircraft against enemy combatants. They may fly through natural disasters or heavy artillery warfare. The choices made by the pilots determine the outcome of the simulation and are meant to teach them how to react under different circumstances. War games are another use of constructive simulation. In war games, ground participants must successfully maneuver through an environment that simulates warfare. These simulations help to condition participants to the harsh realities of war so they can learn how to make good decisions under dangerous circumstances.
Many simulations use a mixture of the three simulation styles to more closely approximate real-life circumstances.
Reasons for Use
Simulations are used for a variety of reasons in research, education, entertainment, and commercial industry. One of the primary reasons for simulations is to re-create an environment without putting anyone in danger. Although the most extreme versions of simulations involve military personnel and conflict, other applications also exist. For example, driver’s education courses can utilize a simulation to allow new drivers to learn how to operate a motor vehicle without endangering anyone by putting inexperienced drivers on the road. Likewise, simulations can be used in health care settings. Surgeons can learn how to operate new tools or try new techniques without endangering actual patients; similarly, other health care workers can benefit from a simulation in which they learn to deal with difficult patients, without actual patients involved.
Finally, many commercial industries use simulations to engineer safer products; to optimize the performance of machinery; and to provide testing, training, and education for their employees. Such simulations are useful because they mimic the real-world environment and provide hands-on training without putting others at risk. They can be used to teach people how to perform new jobs, operate new equipment, or learn about complicated technology without jeopardizing other people or expensive machinery. However, simulations do require a significant investment in time and resources to work correctly.
Drawbacks
Simulations can be expensive to develop and maintain. Additionally, unless the underlying model has been carefully studied so that it is reproduced accurately, the simulation itself may be of little value. Alternately, it may be misleading in allowing people to think they understand how to perform a task or operate machinery in ways that are unrealistic. Finally, simulations should not be abstract situations in which participants do not encounter real difficulties. For example, surgeons who are learning a new technique using a simulation should be exposed to emergency or critical situations that might arise if they make an error or a patient reacts in an unexpected manner. This will help the participant make better decisions when using the technique or machinery in real life.
Bibliography
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"Just What Is Simulation, Anyway?" UCF Institute for Simulation & Training. University of Central Florida. Web. 4 Mar. 2016. http://www.ist.ucf.edu/background.htm
"Live, Virtual and Constructive (LVC) Training Fidelity." Office of Naval Research. U.S. Navy. Web. 4 Mar. 2016. http://www.onr.navy.mil/~/media/files/funding-announcements/baa/2011/11-005.ashx
"Teaching with Simulations." Pedagogy in Action. Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College. 13 Feb. 2013. Web. 4 Mar. 2016. http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/simulations/index.html
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