Didactic Significance of Modern Simulation Programs in Vocational Education – Divagations from Own Research

Simulation programs in polytechnic (vocational) education have an important didactic function. On the one hand, they are a great example of modern didactic software, on the other hand, knowledge of the simulation software environment by a future graduate of a technical university increases the qualifications of the future employee and allows him to acquire an attractive profession. In the era of high requirements set by employers and competition on the education market, their knowledge seems highly justified. However, whether simulation programs, especially deterministic ones, can also act as teaching aids is not so obvious. In this article, in addition to purely theoretical considerations, will be presented stages of own research on didactic efficiency, or more precisely the impact of this group of software on the cognitive process during learning. More importantly, the didactic effectiveness was tested based on typical pedagogical research as well as by means of electroencephalographic tests using the QEEG method.