Simulation and learning: the role of mental models

A successful educational use of simulations at school and in formative courses requires a careful consideration of the cognitive mechanisms of learning. The most interesting educational simulations are not so much those which want to be a copy of reality, but those which favour in the student a process of internalization of the simulated model and a process of externalization and comparison of one’s mental models. Education based on models represents a new and promising paradigm in the designing and the didactic use of simulations.