Use of Flight Simulators in a Flight Mechanics Course: Potentials and Weaknesses - 2nd International Workshop on Evidence-Based Technology Enhanced Learning - page 54

Higher marks after the flight ensure that student knowledge has been improved.
Although there are differences from one question to other, the average improve-
ment percentage for the overall test was 14%. We believe there is room for better
performance attending to the distraction hypothesis [6]: entertainment distracts for
learning, especially those students who had not had previous contact with flight
simulators. In other words, the students are not thoughtful enough to take full ad-
vantage of the potential knowledge improvement that the experience offers and it
is difficult to maintain an adequate attention level.
In order to minimize this kind of distractions two new ideas are proposed for
the next course: to extend the time students spend in the simulator, allowing some
playing time before tests, and to revisit the exercises looking for a better match
with the concepts to learn.
Acknowledgements. We would like to express our gratitude to the Instituto de Automática
y Fabricación (IAF) of Universidad de León for granting the use of the flight simulators
and to Everton Spuldaro for his relevant technical assistance.
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