Animated Simulations are EVERYWHERE

 Animated simulations purpose is to give the learner an imitated experience of a process or event.  As I was searching the web on information about animated simulations, I found hundreds of examples of educators, and corporations using simulations as a means to teach and discover new things.  The information concerning simulations in education suggested that simulations are powerful tools in making something imaginary come to 'virtual reality', simulations motivate students, and gives students hands on experience.  The examples I found of animated simulations are pretty limitless, but I will give a few examples.  One of the most common science class simulations is that of the virtual frog students can dissect using an animated simulation.  In the medical field I read about nurses who use animated simulations to solve medical problems on virtual 'patients'.  Even new kindergarten teachers where using simulations to learn about child development and problem solving in the classroom.  Purdue University made a scientific animated simulation of the 2001 World Trade center attack, to help civil engineers figure out what happened structurally to the building.  Below, I have provided a U tube link to this simulation.   Purdue intentionally kept the simulation non-descript so not to exploit the horrific attack.  Which brings up the point of being ethical while creating animated simulations.
 
Using the Physics example, An animated simulation of the books could be made so students could manipulate the pile of books and add different forces to the books to explore what would happen.  The students would be able to see every force applied to the books while using this simulation.
www.youtube.com/watch  (World Trade Center Simulation)
news.uns.purdue.edu/x/2007a/070612HoffmannWTC.html (Information on the world trade center simulation)
Groups:

Disclaimer

Any opinions expressed here, except as specifically noted, are those of the individual authors or commenters and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the Department of Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences, the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services, or Utah State University.