High fidelity calculations vs. the simple models: The perspective of an educator in nuclear reactor physics

\nThe evolution of technology and computer power in the last decades have significantly impacted the approach to modelling and simulation in nuclear reactor physics, with the development and large utilization of complex code, providing extremely accurate and refined results, and the progressive discard of legacy, simplified models for the steady-state and transient analysis of fission nuclear reactors. How to correctly represent this shift in the frame of higher education, without losing track of the rich physical understanding that “simple models” can provide, is a challenge faced by all educators in reactor physics. Building on the experience gained in university teaching at the bachelor and master level, as well as in the more recent experience in innovative didactic approaches, in this talk I will provide a personal vision of how to approach the teaching in reactor physics in this scenario.\n