## 6 Discussion  
Science teachers around the globe are leveraging the flexible characteristics of computer simulation to undertake a range of learning tasks, specifically to engage students in acquiring scientific phenomena [19]. This study sought to explore and examine the Saudi students' experiences of using computer-based simulations to support their unsupervised (without a teacher's support) learning of science subjects, such as physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and earth science. Our investigation empirically found that university students felt very engaged and satisfied with the use of simulation-based activities to \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c} \hline \hline
**Regression Model** & **R\({}^{2}\)** & **Independent Learning (\(\beta\))** \\ \hline Model 1 (Engagement) & 0.454 \({}^{**}\) & 0.674 \({}^{**}\) \\ Model 1 (Satisfaction) & 0.310 \({}^{**}\) & 0.557 \({}^{**}\) \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} \({}^{**}\)_R\({}^{2}\) = 0.001._  
\end{table} 
Table 4: Regression results: independent learning predicting engagement and satisfaction. facilitate scientific knowledge acquisition independently. Here, participants' high level of engagement and satisfaction suggests that the design of the simulations, particularly that of the PhET resources, is intuitive, efficient, and effective, ensuring that users can easily and comfortably interact with these resources. This is in line with the basic design principles of human-computer interaction (HCI) that aims to create user-centered interfaces that meet the needs of users and allow them to accomplish their tasks with minimal effort and maximum satisfaction [26]. Our results regarding participants' engagement and satisfaction with simulations not only aligns with the findings from previous research that support simulations as an effective teaching tool [5; 19; 20; 35] but also provides empirical evidence for a new aspect of their pedagogical use, i.e., their potential for independent (without the teachers' support) learning of science concepts. Teachers' presence and support is a mandatory requirement for science practical when conducted in actual science labs that require the use of expensive and sensitive material. Since there is no scope of physical or monetary loss when the science practical is conducted virtually, teachers' non-participation or absence can be afforded as students learn about scientific phenomena from trial and error by interacting with different characteristics and input values within a simulation-based activity. This sort of unsupervised learning will be particularly beneficial for the students who learn better in independent settings and enjoy flexibility, autonomy, ownership, and lifelong learning. At the same time, challenges, such as isolation, limited feedback, and being overwhelmed may also be faced that needs to be tackled wisely while asking students to engage in independent or self-directed learning. Our study did not find evidence of statistically significant gender-based differences regarding university students' engagement and satisfaction with simulation-oriented science activities. This implies that both male and female students equally benefitted from the computer-based simulation. The absence of gender-based differences in the use of computer simulations is consistent with the findings of [PERSON] and [PERSON], which suggest that gender-based differences in digital competence and practices are no longer widening but are rather disappearing across the globe [36]. Moreover, since the study participants were able to interact with the system comfortably, and perceive and interpret information presented efficiently regardless of their gender, we consider that the system was inclusive which is an important characteristic of human-computer interaction (HCI) [37]. Though our results indicated that the students' prior experience of using simulations affect their engagement as well as satisfaction with using these technologies for independent science learning, the effect of this variable was found to be very minute.