Learning by Modeling

Computer-Based Modeling and Simulation

Simulation programs are preeminent forms of technology-based modeling. Simulations can allow students to learn from an expert model, role-play to practice new skills, or test learning. Overall, simulations can be characterized as asynchronous media-based activities to ease learners’ application of gained knowledge to “real-life” or work situations. Observation of an expert model by means of simulation increases learners’ understanding of the expert’s thought processes and decision-making strategies. Subsequently, learners can create mental representations and produce the expected behaviors based on recall. Within simulated contexts, the prospect that modeled behaviors will be needed for achieving future events heightens the attention directed to the model. In most simulations for mastery, learners practice behaviors in a safe environment before transferring them into the real work environment.

Educational research has credited simulation with enabling discovery, experimentation, practice, and active construction of knowledge based on concrete models and examples within a risk-free learning environment. Relative to traditional approaches, modeling through simulations and scenarios is highly focused on the learner’s behavior rather than on the subject to be mastered. Further diverging from traditional approaches, which may support relatively simple and well-structured materials, simulations can accommodate the learning of complex topics with high interaction or practice demands.

Simulations are diverse and may range from simple scenarios to complex interactive games with rules and measurable outcomes. Initially adopted for military training, simulations are now used in many fields, including marketing, finance, management, clinical education, and foreign languages. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for instance, has used simulation games to teach its MBA students the principles of systems dynamics and operations. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing has recognized simulation as a tool to provide students with a range of experiences that they might not otherwise encounter within everyday clinical practice settings.

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