The Uses of Simulations in Teacher Preparation

Abstract

In the simplest sense, to simulate is to give or take on the appearance of something else. Most phenomena are amenable to simulation and have been simulated. Results range from feigning wars to landing a space craft on a distant planet. Within professional education simulations have been created to select teachers (Bolton, 1971) and to prepare principals, guidance counselors, and school superintendents (Hemphill et al., 1962).The purpose here is to focus on their past and present use in preparing teachers and to speculate with regard to future applications.PAST USES First reference to use of simulation in teacher preparation was made by Edwards (1&65) when he described how teachers were prepared in the normal schools instituted in the mid-nineteenth century. Such schools served as antecedents to four-year teachers' colleges. Edwards (p. 280) noted; Another essential requisite in a normal school is that it gives its pupils [future teachers] an opportunity of some kind of practice in teaching under the supervision and subject to the criticism of . xperienced and skillful instructors. This is accomplished in

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