CREATE Lab not only designed and researches games for learning, but also explores simulations for learning. In early 2015, and as a follow-up to StatsPL powered by CEREGO, we were asked to design a collection of exploratory simulations on request in a collaborative project aimed at generating an effective, low-cost courseware solution for introductory macroeconomics. Our initial target was to generate adaptive designs with learner assessments and feedback embedded within the simulations themselves. So far, the subject matter we’ve covered in the mock-ups for these (fifteen or so) sims are expansive, including topics on:

•      Goods Market
•      Labor Market
•      Money Market
•      Gross Domestic Product
•      GDP Components
•      Business Cycle
•      Fiscal Policy
•      Monetary Policy
•      Inflation
•      Budget Deficits
•      Production Function
•      Labor Force Participation Rate & Unemployment
•      Types of Unemployment

For the sake of demonstration, below are a two examples of late-stage mock-up designs, courtesy of our graphic designer Keisha Milsom. The conception of these mock-ups was a product of our internal CREATE team—including Dr. Jan Plass, Al Olsen, and Sophia Lu—with expert advice from Weichen Yan as our resident content specialist on macroeconomics.

This first image illustrates a screen-shot of a sim teaching learners about supply, demand, equilibrium, and shifts in supply curve:

This second image depicts part of an interactive on GDP (global domestic product); text in both images is lorem ipsum and not final.