The National Program for Simulation Centers in Teacher Education
The National Program’s R&D Center was established by The MOFET Institute in 2017. The center focuses on:
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- Supporting simulation centers in teacher education academic institutions, by providing methodological, technological and academic guidance.
- Promoting research and disseminating practical and academic knowledge on the use of simulation in teacher education
- Conducting training workshops for different stakeholders in the simulation centers
- Leading the research forum on simulation-based learning in teacher education
- Leading the forum of simulation centers’ directors.
- Establishing an international professional learning community of scholars and educators on the use of simulation in education
- An innovative tool to assist in developing educators’ consciousness as professional practitioners, in implementing behavioural norms and values, and in inducing a profound change in the professional identity of teachers and educators.
- A simple, yet effective, tool for improving teaching strategies and interpersonal communication and social-emotional skills.
- The simulation enables educators to reflect upon the mental maps that guide their automatic reactions in common situations in different school settings.
- In our model, the simulation is based on practicing real-life scenarios along with professional actors trained to play the role of the standardized other.
- The simulation is video-recorded, and is followed by a moderated reflection and debriefing session.
The program was established in 2017, in order to advance interpersonal communications skills among educators and teachers, by means of simulation-based learning and practice.
- The Israeli Ministry of Education sponsors 23 simulation centers in teacher education academic institutions nationwide.
- The simulation centers offer simulation workshops for preservice and in-service teachers and educational staffs in Hebrew and Arabic.
- Since the COVID-19, simulation workshops are either held face-to-face or online.
- Simulation workshops are for educators, preservice and in-service teachers and preschool teachers, pedagogic instructors, supervisors, teacher mentors, teacher educators, moderators; principals, school staffs.
- The simulation enables participants to practice their interpersonal communication, social-emotional and conflict management skills.
- Participants practice along with professional actors, who portray the “standardized other” (the student, a colleague, the school principal, a parent, and so on) in the simulation.
- The simulation is recorded on video, and is later analyzed by the participants with the guidance of an expert moderator.
- The analysis includes feedback from the workshop participants and the actors, and enables a personal reflection in a supportive and safe environment.
- The simulation workshop assists in exposing the patterns and mental maps that guide the participant’s behavior. The workshop contributes to reflecting upon these maps and to improving professional, personal and interpersonal skills in the simulation-based learning process.
Simulation workshops facilitate group encounters between teachers and educators, in order to practice interpersonal communication skills in conflict situations that occur in the educational field; to discuss these experiences in a safe environment; and to promote coefficient reflection on the learning process.
The simulation workshops. that present real-life scenarios based upon the situations with which the participants face in their profession. are held in Hebrew and Arabic.
Our Goals
- To develop educators’ interpersonal, social-emotional and conflict management skills
- To implement reflective feedback as a learning tool in education
- To develop emotional, social and academic skills
- To improve educators’ professional, personal and interpersonal skills
- To support teaching and learning processes
Scalability and Future Aims
- For further information on our current research, methodologies and practices;
- For scheduling a simulation workshop for your organization;
For international academic and professional collaborations:
Please contact us at: simulation@macam.ac.il