I like to imagine the future. What will it look like? What role will technology play in it? That's why I love teaching with STEM simulations—computer-based, dynamic, versatile, 3-D representations of the science we are learning. They give me, and my students, a glimpse of what is to come.
STEM simulations are like stories with an unlimited number of possible plot twists and endings. As students manipulate variables, they receive instant feedback and can see the visual effects of their calculations. Learning through simulation is exciting, memorable, and reliable—after all, we are seeing our equations play out in virtual reality.
When my students learn about aerodynamics, for example, they're not relying on static videos or textbook copy. We're creating an airflow wind tunnel simulation that allows us to visualize the data of airflow trail patterns. Looking around the room during these simulations, I can tell by students' expressions and engagement that they are hooked into not only the method of learning, but also the concepts themselves.
Simulations are becoming a more popular tool in STEM classrooms—and for good reason. STEM simulations offer several advantages.
Even Better Than the Real Thing
Simulations allow students to manipulate variables and witness the effects in real time; whereas nonsimulation experiments can take days, weeks, or months to collect data, analyze the results, and form a conclusion.
Lengthy experiments make it harder to sustain student interest, which can prevent them from fully grasping the information in a meaningful way. With simulations, students can fast-track meaningful experimentation with real STEM problems, like studying fuel efficiency by measuring the emissions and costs associated with retrofitting diesel buses with natural gas engines or the physics of deflecting a potentially damaging asteroid through impulsive asteroid deflection. Simulations allow students to use their knowledge (what they are learning in class) to experience a variety of situations that they otherwise would not get to experience.
Simulations can reduce school costs and safety risks. Schools can replace some laboratory equipment that would be more expensive to purchase and maintain and potentially dangerous to operate. For example, instead of studying light using spectrum tubes, spectroscopy chambers, and spectrometers, my school now uses spectra of light simulations.
More Engaging Than Lectures
Two factors make simulations irresistible to students: They move at an engaging pace, and they invite student participation. These factors mean that students are generally more motivated to pay attention, think deeply, and remember the lessons involved in simulations than in classroom lectures they can easily tune out. The result? Learning characterized by deep student engagement leads to better test results and students who can apply their new learning in different contexts and toward their ever-expanding repertoire of STEM knowledge.
For example, simulations play an important role in modeling and replicating aerospace dynamics. By designing 3-D space stations, moon bases, refueling stations, and so on, students also learn about the engineering and complementary skills (like debating the pros and cons of different designs) that are inherent in design processes. The simulations explicitly connect these learning experiences and the skills and knowledge that will shape the careers of the future.
Front-Row Science
Teachers should think deeply about how to initiate and execute a simulation and whether to combine it with other teaching tools or resources. STEMsims.com and PHET.Colorado.edu are two excellent sources for hundreds of high-quality, research-based, and standards-aligned STEM simulations.
With simulations, teachers can quickly adjust variables to help students better grasp the effects of change. As a result, students can reflect on and modify their perceptions of how something works to fit how it actually works.
