Unlearning to learn in simulation-based learning

Background The affective dimensions of unlearning represent a crucial yet underexamined area within simulation-based learning (SBL). In teacher education, simulations serve as emotionally charged arenas where uncertainty, discomfort, and ethical tension open spaces for critical reflection and growth. While affective and embodied aspects of learning are increasingly recognized as essential to deep professional transformation, their underlying mechanisms and thresholds remain insufficiently theorized or empirically mapped. Objective The study aims to examine how learners engage with and reinterpret dissonant experiences, transforming moments of discomfort into drivers of professional insight and transformative growth. Theoretical framework Guided by transformative learning theory, this research reconceptualizes unlearning as a dynamic, emotionally mediated form of cognitive restructuring. Rather than depicting unlearning as the mere letting go of outdated habits, it is reframed here as a conscious interplay of affective regulation and reflective reappraisal within simulation. Methods The study draws on longitudinal qualitative research involving repeated simulation-based interventions. Triangulated data from simulation debriefings, self-reports, and facilitator logs were analyzed to identify affective thresholds, moments when discomfort evolves into critical reflection and, subsequently, transformation. Results Findings reveal that self-regulation and awareness of emotional responses during role dissonance act as pivotal conditions for transformative learning. Attending to such affective inflection points enables learners to reinterpret destabilizing experiences as openings for ethical awareness and identity reformation. Conclusion Simulations emerge as scaffolded emotional trajectories. Through guided reflection and structured emotional containment, discomfort becomes measurable, transformative, and enduring, a process through which professional identity and ethical reasoning are actively reconstituted.