Simulation is one activity that can contribute to a successful and highly enjoyable experience.

It
engages students by placing them directly into the conflict of the real situation. It comes alive as
students interact with one another. Simulation technique has been applied successfully in the last
decade in education .The advantages of the technique has been known all over the world by
educationist. Simulation play with a useful real – life language use can make the students learn and
develop ideas about the world. It helps them build the skills necessary for critical thinking and
leadership. It’s how they learn to solve problems and to feel good about their ability to learn.
Simulation is a very safe and controlled condition for achievement of desired teaching skill. It may
be artificial condition having some academic status. It creates training situation for obtaining desired
teaching practice. Simulation in teaching methods means to plan artificial circumstances in such a
manner that the participating teacher-trainees get experience for solutions to their teaching problems
in future.

The implementation of simulated teaching in the classroom can employ several steps which was
recommended by Ned Flanders –

 The teacher should assign all students to participate.

 The teacher should prepare the simulated teaching material.
 The teacher should determine the sequence of the group performance
 The teacher should evaluate the student’s performance and give some comments for the
students after the performance.
 The teacher should manage the whole process of the student’s performance
 The teacher should do a reflection to the learning activity which has done.

The term "Simulation" came from the word "Simulate" which means 'simulate'. Simulation means
role-playing or rehearsal in which the process of teaching is carried out artificially. It is based on
socio-drama. The main aspect of simulation in teaching is the introduction of a student-teacher to
teaching in non-stressful conditions.

Characteristics of Simulated Teaching:

 It provides a setting in which a student can function.
 Simulation in training is the provision for tentative or low risk input. 
 It is plotting of the real situation and capturing the essential which forms part of it.
 Simulated teaching implies an analysis of teaching act and of the teaching situation from the
point of view of the student.
 It delivers a message without modifying the physical or psychological learning climate.
 The simulation system informs the student what would have happened had he responded in the
simulated situation.
 It is dependent upon empathetic understanding of the reality content on the part of participant,
the practicing teacher.
 It has the potential to engage students in “deep learning” that empowers understanding as
opposed to “surface learning” that requires only memorization.
 It delivers a message without modifying the physical or psychological learning climate.
 Simulated teaching implies an analysis of teaching act and of the teaching situation from the
point of view of the student.

Importance of Simulated Teaching:

 Simulated teaching becomes a bridge between theoretical understanding and practical work.
 It gives an opportunity to know the problem arising during teaching and find their solutions.
 It helps to propose classroom interaction.
 It enables teacher-trainees to understand classroom behavioral problems and learn how to deal
with them.
 It helps to develop skill of using teaching method.
 It provides teacher-trainee to play role of teacher, student and supervisor.
 It increases confidence among teacher-trainees.

Simulated Lesson

Simulated lesson is a version of "Micro Lesson" which is used in the classroom. During teaching, the
teacher has to behave in a variety of ways. Teacher applies various kind of behavior to properly
teach in front of students in the classroom. These behaviors are called ‘Components’.

Simulated lesson is a micro lesson which is taken up for teaching in a make belief classroom
situation.
The aim of simulated lesson is to help a teacher to achieve special skills related to this particular
lesson.
Preparation for Simulated Lesson:
 A group is formed with ten teacher trainees in which a teacher and two observers are present.
Observers give feedback about the teaching skills of teacher trainee and the remaining seven
teacher trainees will play the role of the student.
 Various types of skills are to be played by the teacher trainees with the help of educational aids.
 Time duration is: 20-30 minutes for Exercise, 7-8 minutes for Teaching and 4-5 minutes for
recapitulation.
 The observer talks after the completion of the teaching of a group.
 Observers write their comments in a pre-defined table.

The skills which are used in teaching are as follows –

1. Skill of Introducing a Lesson:

The skill of introducing a lesson involves establishing rapport with the students, promoting their
attention, and exposing them to essential content. Learning a new lesson is influenced by the process
in which the lesson is introduced. The components under this skill are –

a) Securing Attention: Normally, at the beginning of a lesson, students are found not to be
attentive and mentally prepared for learning. They may be thinking something else too. In such
situation, the primary duty of a teacher is to create desire for learning among the students.
Teacher can do it by telling a story, with the help of demonstration, recitation, etc.

b) Assessing Motivational Level: In this component, attention and motivation are interrelated to
each other. At this stage, the teachers wish for the ultimate level of motivation from the students.

c) Linking with Past Learning Experience: Past learning experience refers to the student’s level
of achievements before instruction begins. Use of this experience is a must, because it helps to
establish integration between the pre-existing knowledge of the student and the new knowledge
that the teacher wants to impart him.
d) Specifying the points to be taken up for teaching: At this level, the main contents of the text
are highlighted before the students by which the students are interested in reading during the
teaching-learning process.

e) Using appropriate devices: Attempts are being made to increase the interest of students
towards text by properly using different types of teaching aids such as charts, models, images,
computers, tape recorders etc.

2. Skill of Questioning:

Successful teaching highly dependent on questioning technique employed in the teaching sessions.
Questioning is an important teaching skill that a teacher must learn. The teacher should learn to ask
suitable, appropriate and meaningful questions. Questioning is definitely a skill. We can very easily
answer a question but it is too difficult to ask a question. By asking such questions again, the teacher
makes the students more thoughtful. He enables the students to understand the subject deeply. The
components under this skill are –

a) Precision & Clarity of Language: Questions should be asked in a simple and clear language to
the students. It should be kept in mind that no questions can create confusion among the
students.

b) Link with Specific objectives: Questions should be asked in such a way that learning objectives
should be intimately related to those questions.

c) Refocusing & Redirecting: Refocusing is used when the student’s response is correct. This
involves comparing the phenomena in his/her response with other phenomena.. Redirection
involves asking the same question from another student. The main purpose of this technique is to
increase more and more student participation.

d) Using Students’ responses for further questioning: The next question is asked after seeing the
nature of the student's response. The next question is immediately presented after knowing the
ability to give the answer of the previous question by the student.
e) Prompting: It means to go deep into the student’s response when it is incorrect or no response.
Then a series of hints or prompts are given to student through step by step questioning in order
to lead the student to the desired correct response.
3. Skill of Use of Teaching Aids:
The term ‘Teaching Aid’ means all the teaching accessories used by the teacher to teach in the class.
It helps in increasing the level of attention in the students. It makes learning easy and interesting.
This type of skill is very helpful in terms of the topic of the content. This skill provides the
opportunity to learn in an interesting and purposefully way. The components under this skill are –

a) Relevant to Topic: The teaching aids used by the teacher must be related to the content of the
subject matter. It should have relevance to the context.
b) Appropriate to the Pupil’s Level: The teacher will use teaching aids after judging the level of
the students so that they understood the content of the subject matter properly.

c) Creates Interest & Thinking: The teaching aids must be displayed in such a way that those
aids create interest about the topic towards the students and they understood the topic according
to their own level.
d) Proper Display: The teaching aids must be displayed in such a manner that the display is clear
and visible to all the students in the classroom.

e) Appropriate Use: The teaching aids must be used for the time required so that it doesn’t distract
the attention of the students later on.

4. Skill of Reinforcement:

This skill is the most important one than other teaching skills. Reinforcement, the term implies the
use of the technique for influencing behavior of individuals in desired direction. The concept of
reinforcement is based on the hedonistic principles, which envisages that all individuals tend to
repeat the pleasant experiences and avoid unpleasant ones. The skill is being used to utilize good
behaviors of the students and to avoid the undesirable behaviors of the students. The components
under this skill are –
a) Positive Reinforcement: The teacher should always be aware of positive reinforcement. Again,
the teacher has always been cautious about the negative reinforcement.
b) Wrong response weakened or broken: Whatever the relative quality of a student’s response,
the teacher will respond in ways that increase the likelihood of participation by students in the
future or result in diminished participation through fewer responses and responses of lower
quality.
c) Seeking further information: The teacher will respond immediately after the student's response
to immediate reinforcement for seeking further information.
d) Non-verbal Reinforcement: Reinforcement can be done through complimentary words and can
also be done through gesture & posture. The process of reinforcement by using complimentary
words is known as Verbal Reinforcement and the process of reinforcement through gesture &
posture is known as Non-verbal Reinforcement.
e) Writing pupil’s response on Board: The questions and the answers received from the students
should be written on black board so that other students can write the answers from the black
board during teaching-learning process.

5. Skill of Illustration:
This is the skill required to develop understanding & higher order thinking among students. This
skill is one of the most important attributes a good teacher must possess. Illustration is an activity
which shows the relationships among various concepts, ideas, events or phenomenon. During
teaching in a classroom, an explanation is a set of interrelated statements elaborating a concept being
taught or learnt. The skill of Illustration is defined as an act of bringing about an understanding in
some one about a concept, a principle or a phenomenon. The components under this skill are –

a) Relevant Examples: The teacher in order to make the lesson interesting will give examples with
relevance to the subject matter. The teacher will thus able to seek the attention of the students
and make them understand more clearly.
b) Clear Concept/Content taught: The teacher would teach the subject matter in a manner that
the concept involved would be entirely clear to the students without any questions or doubt.
c) Simple and Easy: In order to make the students’ understand their lesson, the teacher would use
easy and simple language without any difficult words in it.
d) Student’s Interaction: The teacher will teach the lesson in a fashion that the students are able to
interest in the class to give the idea that the lesson taught to them is completely understood.
e) Correlates with the topic: The teachers will give examples with relevance to the topic and
make the students have clear idea about the concept involved in the lesson.