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Instructional Theory

Instructional theory concerns anything that is done purposely to facilitate learning. This entry describes the nature of instructional theory, including its major components. It identifies the major kinds, paradigms, and domains of instructional theory. Finally, it describes a variety of research methods to improve instructional theories.

What Is Instructional Theory?

Instructional theory is a design theory rather than a descriptive theory because it is goal oriented or instrumental: Its purpose is to offer the best known methods of instruction to accomplish given goals under given conditions. This stands in contrast to learning theories, such as schema theory and information processing theory, whose purpose is to describe learning processes. They do not offer guidance about how to facilitate learning. Design theory is concerned with creating something, whereas descriptive theory is concerned with what already exists (typically cause–effect relationships or natural processes).

Instructional theory is also often confused with the instructional development process. Instructional theory provides an image of the instruction, whereas the instructional development process is concerned with the process of creating the instruction. This is similar to the distinction between an architectural blueprint and the process for constructing the building. Other areas not strictly within the scope of instructional theory are assessment theory, which offers guidance about how to evaluate student learning, and curriculum theory, which offers guidance about what should be learned.

Every instructional theory has two major components: instructional methods and the situations in which those methods are believed to be preferable to the alternatives.

Methods

Instructional methods can vary in the following ways.

Scope of a Method

This is the amount of instruction that a method encompasses. It is a continuum that spans from micro (for an individual skill or understanding) through meso (for a cluster of related skills and/or understandings) to macro (for an entire course or curriculum). Most instructional theories address only one or sometimes two levels.

Generality of a Method

This is the breadth of situations for which a method is recommended. It is a continuum that ranges from universal (or pervasive, common) to local (or narrow, restricted). Most instructional theories claim more generality for their methods than is warranted. It is important to look for situations in which each method is not preferable to the known alternatives.

Precision of a Method

This is the level of detail of the description of a method—again on a continuum. More precision can be added to a method by describing its parts, by describing alternative ways of doing the method (kinds), and/or by providing criteria for making a decision regarding the method. The methods in most instructional theories are described at a relatively imprecise level. It is helpful to understand that the more precisely a method is described, the less general (more situational) it is likely to be.

Power of a Method

This is the degree to which a method contributes to attain the learning goal for which it was selected. This continuum is based on the increase in probability that the goal will be achieved as a result of using the method, all else being equal. Most instructional theories focusing on the methods the theorist believes are the most powerful.

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