Simulations build on the age-old principle of "understanding by practicing" widely used in apprenticeship.

Specifically, participants gain true insight into the key success factors for today's management task because they see the effects of their own actions and are learning from the mistakes they will make.

In addition, participants will remember the lessons better than with the traditional memorization technique and will be able to take action on them because they do and learn in a context similar to their business life.

Showing others and practicing lead to the highest retention of all teaching tools.

Source: "Corporate Universities" by Jeanne Meister

Management Practice Events increase the ability of making decision and taking action as it practices the higher levels of cognitive skills such as Synthesis and Evaluation

Source: Bloom's taxonomy

Management Practice Events respect the natural learning process, used by all humans from early on in life, of “experimentation and reflection with a small amount of instruction thrown in when they are in the mood to listen”

(from page2 of “engines for education” by Roger Schank).

Note: Simulations are not as complex as the real world, they are abstractions of reality but offer significant advantages as a learning tool.

• simulations allow students to play with time in ways the real world does not permit (time just keeps on advancing not permitting to think things over as much).
• simulations provide teachers better access to students. They can be instrumented so that teachers monitor students, waiting until they get stuck and ready to listen to a learning.

Finally, when moving from a simulated experience to the real world one has to map the experience from one to the other and this task is easier the better the simulation is. An aspect where the TOPSIM® simulations excel in.