Categories Of Simulations:

1. Fidelity is the degree to which the simulation accurately mimics the real world situation that it is supposed to represent ( Seropian, Brown, Gavilanes & Driggers, 2004 ). There are three categories of Fidelity in Simulations: a. Low fidelity Simulations in many nursing skills laboratories are of low fidelity. For example, exercises like practicing giving a bed bath to a non-responsive doll or doing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on a Resusci-Anne are low fidelity. b. Medium or Intermediate Fidelity a moderate-fidelity simulation might be a manikin that has heart sounds and breath sounds but no movement. c. High Fidelity high fidelity simulations include virtual reality and new manikins like SimMan ( Laerdal Medical Corporation ) that are attached to a computer and produce vital signs and physiologic reactivity.

2. Delivery another way of categorizing simulation exercises. There are computer simulations, some of them Web-based with video clips and interactivity, that can be quiet realistic and are of moderate or high fidelity.

There are three categories of Delivery in Simulations: a. Computer Simulation - Computer simulations vary from computer programs that run a few minutes, to network-based groups of computers running for hours, to ongoing simulations that run for days. The scale of events being simulated by computer simulations has far exceeded anything possible (or perhaps even imaginable) using traditional paper-and-pencil mathematical modeling. b. Skill Trainers such as manikins mentioned above. c. Full scale simulations in this group are simulations using live standardized patients or full-scale situation enactments such as mass casualty response scenarios.

Simulation Games focus either on content or on processing learning. Content

games focus on teaching or reinforcing factual information. An example would be crossword puzzles that aim to teach terminology or bingo games that reinforce previously learned facts.

ADVANTAGES:

1. To teach facts and application of information is that gaming is, for most people, fun. 2. You can use games to turn routine and repetitive information. 3. You can also use games to evaluate learning. 4. It increases interaction among learners and allows even quiet and reserved class members to participate in a relatively low-risk situation. 5. They can apply problem-solving methods and games.

DISADVANTAGES:

1. Some educators feel those games may be a waste of time. 2. Some people may be also believe that games are unprofessional and they dislike the competition that games promote. 3. Some people do not enjoy playing educational games. 4. Simulations games are usually time-consuming to play and very labor-intensive to develop.