Simulations help teacher candidates build skills in virtual classrooms

David Gibson, associate research professor in the School of Social Transformation’s Equity Alliance center, was featured in the recent Jan. 5 edition of Education Week in a story about the rise of teaching simulation programs to better prepare teacher candidates for the realities of the classroom. 

Gibson’s simSchool tracks how student engagement and performance rise and fall as teachers respond minute by minute in a dynamic simulated classroom environment – building confidence and classroom management skills working with virtual students who possess a variety of personalities and abilities.

“What happens when you shut the door and you’re teaching? What are you going to say? What are you going to do? What happens when the kids change?” Gibson said. “I wanted to take apart the black box that was actually the classroom.”

Equity Alliance at ASU represents a set of funded programs that promote equity, access, participation and outcomes for all students. Since 2008, it has been funded by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Elementary and Secondary Education to serve as the Equity Assistance Center supporting equity issues for state and local school systems in the Arizona, California and Nevada region.