The
dynamic and interactive character of computer simulations is often
thought to be advantageous in vocational education. In the present
study, video-recorded data from a course in anaesthesia care are
analysed in order to explore the conditions for students to understand
and act in simulation-based case scenarios. The results show that
the students orient themselves to the simulation in three different
ways, thereby constituting three different learning foci. Sometimes,
when students use resources from their education, the properties
of pharmacological preparations are in focus. On other occasions
routines at work organise their approach, whilst at other times,
they focus on the specific characteristics of the simulation's
user interface. In the discussion of the constitution of this
hybrid activity, two aspects are presented as especially relevant:
first, the students' previous experiences from their education
and of nurses' work and, secondly, how the teacher guides the
students' orientations toward different resources. Finally, we
argue that the simulation could function as a unique learning
environment since it provides opportunities for linking experiences
from work with more theoretical forms of reasoning in distinctive
ways.
