Title: Understanding diversity and the educational needs of students with exceptionalities: a case study of simSchool

Authors: Vickie Johnston; David Collum

Addresses: Florida Gulf Coast University, 10501 FGCU Blvd. S., Fort Myers, Florida, USA ' Missouri Baptist University, One College Park Drive, Saint Louis, Missouri 63141, USA

Abstract: This paper provides an overview of a study that sought to explore the use of the simulation-based learning platform, simSchool, on pre-service teacher's understanding of diversity and the educational needs of students with exceptionalities at ten universities in the USA and Puerto Rico. This study was designed as a mixed methods case study and conducted at ten universities in the USA and Puerto Rico. Data for this study was collected from three sources, quantitative data from the Multicultural Awareness Survey (MAQ) and the Classroom Management, Differentiated Instruction and Literacy (CM-DI-Lit) survey, and qualitative data from the simSchool Reflection Questionnaire (SSRQ). The analysis of the data indicates that the use of the simSchool platform increased pre-service understanding of diversity and increased their understanding of the educational needs of students with exceptionalities, differentiated instruction and classroom management.

Keywords: simulated-based learning; simSchool; diversity; students with exceptionalities; teacher education; teacher candidates; pre-service teachers.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSMARTTL.2020.112159

International Journal of Smart Technology and Learning, 2020 Vol.2 No.2/3, pp.198 - 216

Received: 01 Aug 2019
Accepted: 02 Sep 2020

Published online: 04 Jan 2021 *

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