Hi KF,
The first thing to point out is how much time you have from 3000ft, even in an Arrow. With a sink rate of 500 ft/min you have about 5 minutes to plan. For a student this should be proved by demonstration.
On the question of finding out what it is really like, try a temporary membership of a gliding club. Every landing is a forced one. Obviously a glider has much better performance than an aeroplane, but if you were to deploy half to three quarter airbrake from 3000ft you would just about simulate the performance glide of a light single. With a bit of practice you should be able to judge a PFL pretty accurately. By the way, with the engine idling, the glide performance isn't significantly different from the genuine engine off glide. I know this because on my instructor course, my instructor shut the engine down on me (there was an airfield within gliding range if the engine didn't restart).
I would only say one more thing. Teaching a PFL is to simulate a real emergency, and it should be impressed upon the student that the object is to land the aircraft safely, not necessarily to grease it on in the first 200ft of a field and saving the aircraft. To boost confidence then, during the PFL training take the aircraft low enough to be able to make the statement, "we could now get into this field from here". After a few of these the fear associated with PFL's should dissipate, one hopes.
Well, that is my take on the subject anyway. It is an interesting question and hopefully others will add their t'pence.