New Perspectives in Science Education

Simulation represents a real revolution in the process of vocational teaching and learning. Learning and assessing knowledge through practical experience, safely and with the possibility of acquiring skills from mistakes and preparing for the unexpected by developing problem-solving and decision-making capabilities, are just some of the advantages offered by simulation. Simulation is used in many contexts, such as simulation of technology for performance optimisation, engineering, testing, training, education, and video games. Over time, the universities have set up in-house real simulation laboratories, locations for teaching and research activities mostly dedicated to the engineering and medical areas. The University of Genoa has invested human and financial resources in creating a new and broader learning context in simulation, and has designed a Centre for the entire university staff able to offer new opportunities for research and simulation training developed in an interdisciplinary and inter-professional perspective. The focus of this paper is how students perceive that simulations help them learn and suggests that simulation may play a part in how students perceive learning that is meaningful to them. A literature review on the use of simulation is presented together with literature related to the learning theory that underpins simulation. This work aims to share the experience at the SimAv simulation centre of the University of Genoa that represents a unicum in the Italian panorama.

Keywords: Simulation, vocational education and training, interdisciplinary, interprofessional education;

References