Instructional theory researches how people learn to improve the teaching process, with two main approaches: cognitive models (focus on student’s mind) and behavioral models (focus on observable behavior). It’s not a teaching method, but can inform pedagogies. Theories prioritize effective teaching over learning.
Instructional theory is a field of inquiry typically involved in researching and understanding how people learn in order to make the instructional process more beneficial for students. It often focuses on younger students and is applied to many different educational models and teaching pedagogies. There are two general schools of thought and research regarding instructional models and frameworks: cognitive models and behavioral models. Instructional theory is generally directed towards understanding how information can be taught effectively. While student understanding is important, theories often focus more on how information can be taught rather than how it is learned.
While easily confused with teaching pedagogies, instructional theory is not a particular teaching method or school of thought with regard to how lessons can be taught. Typically, he is more involved with understanding the teaching process and how the instructions issued by one person can be more fully learned and understood by the listener. Teaching pedagogies often arise and develop on the basis of various types of instructional theory, but they are not inherently synonymous.
One of the best ways to understand instructional theory is to understand the two most common approaches to this discipline. Cognitive models of instruction typically consider the teaching and learning process primarily to take place in the student’s mind. This makes it difficult to carry out any kind of observation or scientific criticism of such theories, which can be considered a weakness for this type of instructional theory. While some work can be done to establish observable cognitive development, these studies are generally more difficult to perform than others.
Behavioral models, on the other hand, are generally easy to observe and verify through basic scientific investigation. An instructional theory that uses behavioral patterns generally considers the teaching and learning process as an adjustment to behavior that can be observed. What goes on in the student’s mind is unknown and therefore can potentially be ignored in favor of what can be witnessed and documented.
Different pedagogies have emerged from each type of model, and both have their strengths and weaknesses. One of the distinguishing features of a sound instructional theory, however, is that it deals primarily with the role of a teacher. While the learner is important, these theories generally seek more effective ways for teachers to present information. The development of such theories led to some sweeping changes in education, including the idea of a teacher as a facilitator of the learning process.
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