Simulated Processes in a Learning Environment Sim PLE

Simulated Processes in a Learning Environment (Sim. PLE) Anne Rose, David Eckard, Gary Rubloff, Catherine Plaisant, Yatin Sankholkar, Ben Shneiderman, George Ziets Symposium and Open House May 29, 1998

Overview ] Simulation environments are powerful learning tools Z Z encourage exploration cost effective training mechanisms Sim. PLE is an authoring tool for creating simulation-based learning environments ] Couples power and flexibility of a generic simulation engine with a custom front end ]

Simulation Engine (Vis. Sim)

Vac. Tech. Sim

Cluster. Sim

Nile. Sim

Pilot Study Sim. PLE (GUI + Vis. Sim) vs. Vis. Sim only ] 10 students ] Observations: ] Z Z Z all students preferred Sim. PLE more engaged with Sim. PLE found controls in Vis. Sim confusing

Gauge Experiment ] Wide range (1015), high accuracy gauges that show: Z Z Z direction of change (up/down) speed of change (fast, slow, stopped) specific ranges (low, operating, high) Demo in Zoology-Psychology Building, Rm 3111

Future Work and Conclusions select other application domains ] investigate use of other simulation engines ] continue to enhance authoring tool ] Z learning historian to capture and playback histories Authoring tools, like Sim. PLE, are a key step toward the wide spread use of simulation-based learning environments

Additional Information Supported by NSF under grant EEC 96 -96212 ] Technical report and video in handout materials ] http: //www. isr. umd. edu/Sim. PLE/ ] Demos in A. V. Williams Building, Room 3174

Software Architecture Separates user interface from simulation engine ] Allows independent contributions of education content and software development ]