Benchmark 8E
The Designed World: Information Processing
Grades 9-12, page 203

Computer modeling explores the logical consequences of a set of instructions and a set of data. The instructions and data input of a computer model try to represent the real world so the computer can show what would actually happen. In this way, computers assist people in making decisions by simulating the consequences of different possible decisions.

See also the general discussion in Unifying Concepts and Processes: Evidence, models, and explanation.