Trainsimulator

Simulatorsareusedeverywheretohelppeoplebetterunderstandthings,whetheritbehow

tocompleteajobsuchasdoctorsandscientist,andorinschools.Ourgroupisdesigningatrain
simulatortohelppeopleourage,betterunderstandhowtrainswork.Oursimulatorisgoingtobe
ascreenwithcontrolsthatwillgivepeopletheopportunitytoexperiencehowitistobein
controlofatrain.OursimulatorwouldbeattheGeorgiastaterailroadmuseum,Coastal
heritagesociety.Sinceourprojectismeanttoattractpeopleourage,inaneducationalway,we
decidedtochooseasimulatorbecausewethoughtitwasa,funandsimplewaytoeducatepeople
ontrains.Wearelookingattheartistic,historical,scientific,futuristic,socialandcultural,andor
coursetheeducationalaspectsofoursimulators.Iampersonallylookingatthesocialand
educationalaspectofourproject.Iamlookingattheadvantagesoflearningwithsimulators.

Tellme,Iforget.Showme,Iremember.Involveme,Ilearn(Chineseproverb).People
willlearnmorewhentheyareinvolvedinwhattheyaredoing,itisveryeasytoforgetthings
thatarejusttoldandnotshown.Peoplelearninmanydifferentways,butvisualandkinesthetic
learnersseemtobethemostcommon.Simulatorsprovidevisualandphysicalrepresentationsof
atrainandwhatitistoconductone.

Accordingtoserc.carleton.edu(n.d.),Usinginstructionalsimulationsgivesstudents
concreteformatsofwhatitmeanstothinklikeascientist.Inthecaseofourtrainsimulator,the
simulatorisgoingtogivestudentsandotherpeople,theideaofwhatitistothinklikea

conductor.Itiseasiertolearnsomethingifyouareinvolvedinit,thatwayyouknowforsure
thatyoutrulylearnedit.

AccordingtoLateef(n.d.),Simulationbasedlearningcanbethewaytodevelophealth
professionalsknowledge,skills,andattitudes,whilstprotectingpatientsfromunnecessaryrisks.
Althoughinthiscasetheauthoristalkingabouthealthprofessionals,thispieceofinformation
canalsobeusedforthetrainsimulator.Heretheauthoristalkingabouthealthprofessionals
avoidingunnecessaryrisks,thisisalsotrueforourtrainsimulator.Byusingasimulatorwe
avoidalltheriskthatcomewithconductingarealtrain.Thismakeoursimulatorsafe.

Buttheoutcomefromasimulationisonethatcomesfromexperienceandnotjustreading,
discussion,andtesting(Neilson,2011).Therearemanywaysoflearningandsomemaybemore
effectivethanothers.Learningfromexperienceismuchmoreeffectivethanbylearningfrom
sittingdownandbeingtalkedaboutit.Whenyouaresatdownandtalkedaboutsomething,itis
veryeasytogetdistractedandorforgetaboutit,butwhenyouexperienceit,suchasina
simulator,youareforcedtofocusonwhatyouaregoingandthatifhowyoutrulylearn.

Mistakesarethingsthateveryonelearnsform.Next,themistakesparticipantsmakeina
simulation,nomatterifitsacasestudyoracomplexflightsimulator,aretrulylearning
experiences(Neilson,2011).Simulatorsgivepeopletheoutcomeoftheirmistake,butagaintheir
mistakeswillnotbeharmfultoanythingoranyone.Inreallifetherewillnotbeanundobutton,

butonthesimulatortherewillbe.Itgivesthemachancetofixtheirmistakesandlearnfrom
them.

Applicationis,likeexperience,amajorcomponentofeffectiveadultlearning
(Neilson,2011).Sinceitisasimulator,itgivesimmediatefeedbackandthisgivespeoplethe
opportunitytofixtheirmistakerapidly.Thisisanadvantagebecausetheyapplywhattheylearn
todoitcorrectlythenexttime.

Inconclusion,trainsimulatorsareasafeandeffectivewaytotrulylearnsomething.Like
saidbefore,peoplecanbesatdownandtalkedaboutsomethingallday,butuntiltheyare
involvedinit,theywillnottrulylearn.Simulatorstrulyhavemanybenefitsanditisverylikely
thatwillreallygetatruelearningexperiencefromit.Thesimulatorwillbenefitmanydifferent
peopleandtheirownlearningstyles.Thesimulatorwillalsohelpallagegroups,notonly
teenagers,learnandexperiencewhatitfeelstobeincontrolofatrain.TheGeorgiastaterailroad
museumwillbenefitfromthesimulatorinmanyways,andwillkeepattractingpeople.

Citations:
BenefitsofUsingSimulations.(2011,February14).RetrievedMarch18,2016,from
http://www.yourtrainingedge.com/benefitsofusingsimulations/

Lateef,Fatimah."SimulationbasedLearning:JustliketheRealThing."JournalofEmergencies,
TraumaandShock.MedknowPublications.Web.18Mar.2016.

"WhyTeachwithSimulations?"TeachingwithSimulations.Web.18Mar.2016.
TraitIIDEADEVELOPMENT,ORGANIZATION,ANDCOHERENCE
Scoreof4

Scoreof3

Scoreof2

Scoreof1

The students response is a

welldeveloped
informative/explanatory text
that examines a topic in
depth and presents related
information based on text as
a stimulus.

The students response is a

complete
informative/explanatory text
that examines a topic and
presents information based
on a text as a stimulus.

The students response

is an incomplete or
oversimplified
informative/
explanatory text that
cursorily examines a
topic based on text as a
stimulus.

The students response is a

weak attempt to write an
informative/explanatory text
that examines a topic based
on text as a stimulus.

Opening/
Thesis

Effectively introduces a
topic and a wellwritten
thesis statement that will
be examined

Clearlyintroducesatopic
and a thesis statement
that will be examined

Attempts to
introduce a topic
and /or a thesis
statement

May not introduce a topic

or thesis statement, or
the topic or main idea
must be inferred

Organizatio
n

Uses an organizational
strategy to present
information effectively
and maintain focus and to
make important
connections and
distinctions

Has an organizational
strategy to group
information and provide a
focus, but sometimes
connections and
distinctions are not clear

Ineffectively
organizes ideas,
concepts and
information

May be too brief to

demonstrate an
organizational structure,
or no structure is evident

Thoroughly develops the

topic with wellchosen,
relevant, and enough
facts, extended
definitions, concrete
details, quotations, or
other information and
examples that are
appropriate for the
audience

Uses a few pieces of

relevant information from
sources to develop topic

Develops topic,
sometimes unevenly,
with little relevant
information

Provides minimal
information to develop
the topic, little or none of
which is from sources

Transitions

Uses appropriate and

varied transitions to
create cohesion, to link
major sections of the
text, and to clarify the
relationships among ideas

Uses some transitions to

connect and clarify
relationships among
ideas, but relationships
may not always be clear

Attempts to link
ideas and concepts,
but cohesion is
inconsistent

Struggles to link some

ideas and concepts, but
cohesion is weak
throughout

Vocabulary

Effectively uses precise

language and
domainspecific
vocabulary appropriate to
the audience and
complexity of the topic

Uses some precise

language and
domainspecific
vocabulary to explain the
topic

Uses limited precise

language and/or
domainspecific
vocabulary to
manage the topic

Uses vague, ambiguous,

inexact, or repetitive
language

Style

Establishes and maintains

a formal style and
objective tone

Uses formal style and

objective tone

Attempts to
establish formal
style and objective
tone but struggles to
maintain

Lacks appropriate formal

style and tone

Evidence

Scoreof0

The response
is completely
irrelevant or
incorrect, or
there is no
response.
The student
merely copies
the text in
the prompt.
The student
copies so
much text
from the
passages that
there is not
sufficient
original work
to be scored.

Conclusion

Provides a strong
concluding statement or
section that logically
follows from the ideas
presented

Provides a concluding
statement or section that
follows from the ideas
presented

Provides a weak
concluding
statement or section

Provides a minimal or no
concluding statement or
section

TraitIILANGUAGEUSAGEANDCONVENTION:
Scoreof3

Scoreof2

Scoreof1

The students response demonstrates full

command of language usage and
conventions.

The students response demonstrates

partial command of language usage and
conventions.

The students response demonstrates

weak command of language usage and
conventions.

Uses clear and complete

sentence structure, with
appropriate range and variety

Uses complete sentences, with

some variety

Has fragments, runons, and/or

other sentence structure errors

Makes an attempt to attribute

paraphrases and direct
quotations to their sources via in
text or parenthetical citations

Attributes paraphrases and direct

quotations inconsistently to their
sources via in text or
parenthetical citations

Makes little if any attempt to

attribute paraphrases and direct
quotations to their sources

Has
no errors
in usage and
conventions that interfere with
meaning*

Has minor errors in usage and

conventions with no significant
effect on meaning*

Has frequent errors in usage and

conventions that interfere with
meaning*

Scoreof0

The students
response has many
errors that affect
the overall
meaning, or the
response is too
brief to determine
a score.
The student copies
so much text from
the passages that
there is not
sufficient original
work to be scored.