Science of Skills
Our best chance for a productive simulation is to rely on science.
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Dependence on Scientific Principles
To be meaningful as an experimental device, or even as a game, a simulation must represent the true state of affairs of the given situation, best derived from science.
Deeloping models is a significant part of the construction and calls for analysis and design. The models must account for both procedural (deterministic) and behavioral (decision-making or probabilistic) processes. So you need contributions from the physical, behavioral, and social sciences.
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Faced with the pattern complexity and ongoing uncertainties and hazards of the world, mankind has expended a great deal of effort over the centuries to gain some control and has produced many highly practical ideas, in subjects ranging from the physical to the social sciences. It is this knowledge, mainly, that we draw on to build simulations, to form our knowledge.
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Using Science to Learn Science
The relationship between ideas and simulations runs both ways. In one way, ideas can be used to build desired models. In the other way, simulations can be used to teach the ideas. In the former, we would apply scientific information in the pursuit of other goals. And in the latter, we would build a vehicle to impart the scientific knowledge to students (through trial and error, as if operating in the real world). Click here for example.
We might, say, use the principles, laws, and equations of chemistry, in simulation, to run tests of a potentially dangerous reaction before conducting "live" operations. This would be a study or experiment of the chemical reactions, as might be performed in a commercial laboratory. The objective would be to learn more about the details of the reactions, or it might be part of a game.
Alternatively, we might apply the principles or laws -- equations -- to run simulated chemistry experiments to learn those very same characteristics. The virtual constructions would provide an alternative to the more traditional laboratory experiments and would serve the same purpose. The objective would be to learn the principles by observing them in practice -- but through simulation.
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