Published in the March 2010 Coal USA Magazine

Project leader Launa Mallett said the computer-based program was created to help bring miners, many of whom are already comfortable with game-based play, into an interactive underground scenario. Workers can learn basic knowledge of underground landmarks, while also polishing their knowledge with detailed training.

The first unit of the two-part program is Map Reading Basics. This encompasses terminology and basic concepts needed to read and understand an underground mine map.

The second unit, Mine Navigation Challenge, can be used to put those new skills into practice through training based on a first computer game engine.

The two sections can be used together or separately, and once ready the trainee can perform a scavenger hunt around the simulated mine.

The NIOSH developers said it was important to put the training into a first-person perspective to allow workers to get the most true-to-life experience, and the surroundings of the game were carefully detailed to match that.

“Learning in context happens as trainees take roles in the story and virtually have an experience,” Mallett noted.

“Rather than reading, watching a film, or hearing about a place, trainees can explore and interact.”

Attributes such as strategic thinking, interpretive analysis, problem solving and rapid change adaptation can be fostered through the tool.

After the program was completed last year, it was tested in new miner training classes at three US mine training centers. Participants ranged in age from 18 to 54 but with a median age of 30. More than 93% of users in the group had less than a year of experience in the industry.

An overwhelmingly positive response was received. Many enjoyed the computer-based method and requested more training using the virtual technique for tasks such as identifying effective mine ventilation models and using lifelines and other tether lines.

With the programs’ sections working and successful, the agency made a download of the program available to minesites through the NIOSH website and said it would continue to take feedback for future improvements.

Mallett noted that a similar training product involving mine evacuation simulation was in development. Researchers are compiling the best information and cross-referencing new federal regulations on post-accident response procedures. When the unit is complete it will be offered alongside the Underground Coal Mine Map Reading Training program.

“Research has demonstrated that simulation environments are powerful learning tools that encourage exploration by allowing learners to manipulate parameters and visualize results,” according to Federation of American Scientists research cited by NIOSH in its work.

“Simulation-based learning environments can also provide anchored or situated learning environments that can help learners understand the types of problems and opportunities that real experts confront and how they use their knowledge to solve those problems.”

Mallett and the research group couldn’t agree more.

“The potential for miners ‘working’ in the safety of the classroom as they learn mine knowledge and skills is limited only by the creative thinking of industry leaders and the resources put toward research and development,” Mallett said.

The NIOSH software is available free of charge at http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/mining/.