Simulations

Simulations are a way to expose students to careers and to explore them without actually being in the workplace.  Career simulations allow students to experience opening a business, manufacture products, and demonstrate career readiness skills in a non-threatening, safe environment in the classroom.  Simulations can be for individuals or for teams.  Simulations can be fun and engaging a have a high degree of accuracy as it relates to the workplace.  They offer the opportunity to “preview” jobs.  Gaming technology is evolving rapidly and is enhancing the virtual reality experience of career simulations.  The U.S. Military has been creating advanced simulations tools.

Benefits

• Provides students with a workplace experience that may not be available to them due to limiting factors of time, distance, etc.
• Allows all students to participate rather than those with transportation or other enabling factors.
• Technology allows students to actually make decisions and evaluate the results of those decisions in real time or through an accelerated timeframe.
• Students may be able to participate in a variety of simulations to explore different career areas.

Success Factors

• Align simulations with classroom instruction for maximum impact.
• Consider having students work both as individuals and as collaborative groups during the simulation to imitate a real work environment.
• Allow the simulation to take place over an extended time period to replicate real world work.
• Create the simulation of a workplace in the classroom or CTSO experience. Fund raising for a CTSO provides an excellent framework to create a simulated business experience.