§ §CHAPTER ONE Some Principles Underlying the Cognitive Approach to Instructional Design*

In the generation since the birth of the instructional design field, our under-standing of the basic psychological mechanisms of memory, perception, learn-ing, and problem solving has seen a great deal of development. Corresponding progress in our understanding of the psychology of instruction (or, if you prefer, design of learning environments) has led to important new definitions of principles of instructionaldesign.For those familiarwith thebehavioral approach, this chapter will review what you already know and show how the cognitive approach differs. For those who have never had a formal study of the assumptions underlying the behavioral approach, this chapterwill provide youwith a theoretical understanding of the approach you probably have been using to date. Important additional principles are included in the chapters in Part Three. However, a full discussion of the psychology of learning and instruction is beyond the scope of this chapter and of this handbook. If you are interested in pursuing the subject matter further, references to sources from which this chapter is drawn are provided. We do not mean to imply a disjunctive contrast between the behavioral and the cognitive approach, nor do we mean to imply that behavioral principles are obsolete—only that the cognitive approach often adds prescriptive utility t