Learning Through Simulations

This book is written for teacher educators who are looking for strategies to teach a foreign or second language in a more meaningful way whilst applying active methodologies to develop critical thinking skills. The book is designed to guide the readers through a series of simulations that provide challenging learning opportunities, similar to the ones experienced in real life, whereby each simulation is designed to support participants' language and critical thinking skills and their abilities as future teachers.

The book first introduces the concept of simulations in education. Then it provides examples of fully developed simulations and instructions for their implementation, a template for the readers to create their own simulations, as well as suggestions for peer classroom observation and professional development. Finally, three case studies exploring student learning through simulations are presented.

This book is a useful teaching resource for teacher instructors, English as a Second Language/English as a Foreign Language students, secondary school teachers and for language institutions.

Autorentext
M. Laura Angelini is associate professor and researcher at Universidad Católica de Valencia 'San Vicente Mártir', accredited by the National Quality Assessment and Accreditation Agency of Spain (ANECA). Her research aims to determine whether simulation and gaming leads to improvement in English as foreign language production skills along with critical awareness over global issues, especially educational issues. She is the lead researcher of the Interdisciplinary Group on Active Learning and Assessment (IGALA) and in her courses she integrates active learning methods and techniques to train future teachers. She is the author of several articles on the effectiveness of simulations in language learning that can be consulted at https://www.researchgate.net/profile/M_Laura_Angelini.

Inhalt

1. Background knowledge.- 1.1 Towards a reconceptualisation of simulations.- 1.2 Simulations across disciplines.- 1.3 What are the phases of simulations?.- 1.4 What are the advantages of simulations in education?.- 2. Simulations.- 2.1 Masterminders' School.- 2.2 The National School of Valtance.- 2.3 Edun.- 2.4 PawsUp.- 2.6 Special Considerations and Template.- 3. Professional development through peer learning observation.- 4. Case studies.- 4.1 Case study 1.- 4.2 Case study 2.- 4.3 Case study 3.- 5. Conclusion.- 6. About the author.- 7. References.