First Principles of Instruction

Overview

Our expert review formative evaluation approach focuses on the design of the learning experience, including the instructional activities that will help our learners achieve their goals. We frame our evaluation of the instructional merits of lesson materials and the instructional activities within the context of Merrill's First Principles of Instruction. As an introduction to these principles that you will be considering during your evaluation, please view this video (5:41 minutes) Links to an external site. prepared by Dr. David Merrill about his thoughts on instruction and instructional design.

Prescriptive Principles of Instruction

Dr. David Merrill, professor emeritus at Utah State University, introduced the First Principles of Instruction Links to an external site. as a set of fundamental principles of instruction that can lead to effective, efficient, and engaging instruction. Merrill's purpose was to identify the prescriptive principles common to various design theories and models, such as:

  • Star Legacy by the Vanderbilt Learning Technology Center,
  • 4-Mat by McCarthy,
  • Problem-based learning by Clark and Blake,
  • Whole Task Practice in 4C/ID Model by van Merrienboer,
  • Cognitive apprenticeships by Collins, Brown and Newman,
  • Instructional episodes by Andre,
  • Multiple approaches to understanding by Gardner,
  • Collaborative problem solving by Nelson,
  • Constructivist learning environments by Jonassen, and Learning by doing by Schank

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Although these instructional theories and models used use a wide variety of terms to describe their approaches, Merrill concluded that the underlying principles were similar. As depicted in the figure above, the key instructional principles include:

  1. Focusing your instruction on relevant real-world problems or tasks,
  2. Activating prior knowledge,
  3. Using specific portrayals to demonstrate component skills,
  4. Applying newly acquired knowledge and skills, and
  5. Integrating the new knowledge and skills into the learner’s world.

Purpose of Each Principle

Merrill suggests the following as purposes for the First Principles of Instruction Links to an external site.:

  • Problem-Centered: Learning is promoted when learners are engaged in solving real-world problems.
  • Activation: The purpose of the activation phase is to create activities that build on existing knowledge before exposure to new information. Activating prior knowledge prepares your learners to connect new incoming information with existing knowledge.
  • Demonstration: The purpose of the demonstration phase is to create activities that demonstrate the steps and procedures to your learners. Demonstrating knowledge requires the learners to be mentally active, but they are not participating physically.
  • Application: The purpose of application phase is to create activities that give your learners opportunities to apply what they are learning. Application of new information provides the learners with opportunities to do something, such as practice a procedure, play a game, answer a question, etc.
  • Integration: The purpose of integration phase is to create activities that help your learners select and express what they learned and how they may use it. Integrating new knowledge helps the learners connect what they are learning to their work or their lives.

Pause.png Before you move on ...

Up to this point in the course, you may have wondered why adult educators don't simply use the multitude of learning resources designed for K12 kids with the adult education classroom. Without question, there is no shortage of high-quality instructional materials (including open educational resources) for English Language Arts / Literacy and Math subject designed for children. If the subject matter for adult basic education is similar to K12 (e.g., multiplying a fraction is the same if you are 6 or 36), why not just use the same materials?

One of the biggest issues is real-world relevance to the learner audience and alignment to their goals. In addition, adults are put off (to the point of being insulted) when presented with materials designed for children. To illustrate this point, consider the lesson scenario, images, examples, and even tone of this video geared to children shown below (2:40): Links to an external site.

Assume that you are an adult learning basic math concepts. How would you feel if you were asked to watch this video as an introduction to fractions? How would you change the video to make it more relevant to an adult audience and their goals?

Let's now explore each of Merrill's First Principles of Instruction in more detail. We will think about how each of these principles applies to the learning experience you are evaluating and redesigning.