from Inquiry, Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 1998, 32-35
© Copyright 1998 Virginia Community College System
Abstract
Dr Banas developed a PBS 116-Public Budgeting and Finance course, integrating the use of SimCity Classic, computer simulation software, with traditional lecture, guest speakers, and collaborative learning activities. In this article, he explains the rationale for his course design and discusses the results of his first semester teaching PBS 116.
The use of models and simulations for training and educational purposes has a long history. Medieval knights used wooden saw horses, wooden swords, and blunted lances to practice their deadly craft. Western gunslingers practiced their quick draw and marksmanship skills shooting old bottles and cans. These are early examples of simulations that are crude by today's standards yet enabled the participants to hone their skills in a controlled environment.
The use of simulations and models has been enhanced by the proliferation of personal and desk-top computers. Biology students can dissect a frog using a three-dimensional virtual frog. Medical students study human anatomy and practice surgery using an anatomy simulation called virtual Adam and virtual Eve.
The military uses simulations extensively in the training of tank crews, helicopter pilots, and fixed-wing aircraft pilots. The U.S. Army's catalog of models and simulations, known as Mosais, provides a centralized data base of computer simulations and models available for the education and training of soldiers. There are approximately 275 simulations and models included in the inventory, ranging from an Army Laser Weapon Simulation to a Brigade/Battalion Battle Simulation, from a Tank vs. Helo (tank versus helicopter) simulation to a Warsaw Pact Ammunition Resupply Model.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Emergency Management Institute uses disaster simulations for training in planning for and responding to natural disasters (hurricanes, earthquake, and terrorism). There are also disaster simulations on the Internet that train community leaders in emergency management. London firefighters are trained using the London Brigade's Minerva Incident Command Simulation, their computer simulation that models an actual fire scene. Many police departments are integrating computer simulations into their training regimen to better prepare officers in situations requiring the use of force versus the use of deadly force.
The common thread to the use of simulations in education and training appears to be their use in modeling life-threatening situations or situations involving high value assets. Practicing responding to a natural disaster better prepares the respondents than if they have never "been in that situation." However, one cannot summon up a natural disaster for training purposes. Thus, we rely on simulations and models. We would not want the emergency response professionals to have never practiced their response to a hurricane nor can we expect them to have experienced a real hurricane as part of their training. We would not expect a pilot trainee to go directly from basic training to a fighter jet without some time spent in a flight simulator. A tank crew is much better prepared to operate a tank in the field after training on a simulator. Simulators allow the students to experience a scenario without the penalties that they would encounter in the "real life" situation.
With this knowledge of the use of simulations, I began developing a PBS 116: Public Budgeting and Finance course with the support of a Virginia Community College System (VCCS) grant. I knew I wanted to utilize the computer in a variety of ways (analysis, word processing, Internet research, etc.) to promote computer literacy, and my traditional and Internet research uncovered a literature rich in computer simulations and modeling. I considered and evaluated various simulations that could be run on the computers in our computer laboratory and that would address computer literacy issues and make the course relevant to the students. I wanted to make the course theoretical, interesting, and practical. The textbook I chose addressed the theory, and the guest lecturers I arranged made it interesting, but I needed something to make it relevant. Part of the solution was to make reading assignments from newspaper and journal articles, but I still wanted something to give the students some "hands on" budgeting experience. I was interested in finding a simulation that would involve budgeting in an environment that has some constants but also an element of luck and would be entertaining enough to hold the students' attention. As it turned out, the students in the class were county police officers, fire and rescue personnel, and public works employees. I wanted to find a budgeting simulation that would involve high value assets (the city and the allocation of scarce resources for its operation) and potentially life-threatening situations which cannot always be predicted or anticipated.
I found SimCity Classic by Maxis, a computer game where the students either start a city from scratch or use one of the cities already started. SimCity allows the students to literally create a city "from the ground up." The raw land must be bulldozed (at a cost per unit) before it can be developed. Roads can be constructed and once constructed require maintenance. Power generators must be constructed and power lines run to the various commercial, industrial, and residential sections. Soon people move to your town which can grow into a city, then a metropolis.
Financing issues are addressed by the simulation with changing the tax rates and arranging the construction of seaports, airports, and sports stadiums. The students have a budget screen which they use to monitor and change their budget allocations between current expenditures, infrastructure maintenance, and capital projects. This juggling aspect is the crux of the simulation for the PBS 116 students.
Adding to the realism of the simulation are the disasters which can befall the cities. These range from tornadoes, to airplane crashes, to fires, to invasions by Godzilla-like monsters. The reconstruction from the ensuing damage takes scarce resources from other projects and regular maintenance and forces the student to reevaluate their strategy and reallocate constantly.
So that the students took the simulation seriously, the students had a graded SimCity assignment. In the first part of the assignment, the students were to plan the creation of a new city. Their plans would be detailed enough to enable students to decide which projects they would attempt in which order, why they had decided on that particular strategy, and a description of how the simulation "acted/reacted" to their choices. The second part of the assignment involved using one of the preprogramed cities and trying to accomplish a set goal. As previously mentioned, the students in the class work full-time and were county police officers, fire and rescue personnel, or were employed by the Department of Public Works. I assigned the police officers 1972 Detroit, where the goal was to reduce crime in a ten-year period. The fire and rescue personnel were assigned 1944 Hamburg, where they were to contain the fires and rescue the survivors. The public works employee was assigned to rebuild Tokyo after an earthquake. The second assignment also required the students to develop a strategy and then apply it and describe the result, what helped them reach their goal, what hindered them from achieving their goal, what about their strategy worked, and what they would do differently.
In this course, I hoped to teach the students the theory of budgeting and public finance from the textbook. Articles from the newspaper and public administration readers gave them a realistic/popular/mainstream look at budgeting. The guest speakers offered insight into the actual tradeoffs and deals that must be made to get a budget approved. The simulation was a vehicle which enabled the students to try various strategies for high value assets and life-threatening situations without the consequences of the actual events.
During the course, the students had several sessions to familiarize themselves with the software. These sessions were integrated into the course at various stages; meanwhile, the students had guest speakers (budgeting professionals from various governmental agencies), lectures, and group answering of textbook questions, and then they would integrate what they had learned from these endeavors into their simulation budgeting strategy. SimCity provided a laboratory where the students could develop a strategy, implement it, and then see the results of their strategy without suffering the real world consequences of their actions.
In general, SimCity was a good choice of simulations:
I was unable, due to time constraints and guest speaker schedules, to integrate Internet work (research and simulation exercises) into the course. Also, the computer laboratory hookup for the Internet had not been completed before the end of the semester. Overall, the use of the computer simulation enhanced the students' learning experience in PBS 116, and the interactive learning environment stimulated the students to synthesize what they learned from the textbook, the guest lecturers, and the handouts (journal and newspaper articles) and practice it in the simulation exercise.
Dr. Ed Banas, Jr., has been a full-time faculty member at Northern Virginia Community College, Woodbridge Campus, since 1978, teaching accounting and public administration. He also teaches at the Extended Learning Institute of NVCC.