Principles of Instructional Design

Education and its related disciplines continue to flutter this way and that by every philosophical wind that blows. In an uncertain science and technology, unscientific theories flourish. People are anxious for answers. When answers are slow in coming, uncertain in statement, and difficult to find; then the void is filled with wild speculation and philosophical extremism. This brief statement attempts to make clear our belief that instruction is a science and that instructional design is a technology founded in this science. We attempt to identify some of the assumptions underlying the science-based technology of instructional design, and to clarify its role in the larger context of education and social change. The Science of Instruction and the Technology of Instructional Design · There is a scientific discipline of instruction and a technology of instructional design founded on this science. · Like all science, the science of instruction is based on specific assumptions about the real world. · The technology of instructional design is founded on scientific principles verified by empirical data. · Like other sciences, instruction is verified by discovery and instructional design is extended by invention. Instructional science, the foundation for the technology of instructional design, is th