Situational Methods of Instruction
Principles and methods of instruction can be described on many levels of precision (Reigeluth & Carr-Chellman, 2009b). For example, on the least precise level, Merrill states that instruction should provide coaching. On a highly precise level, one could state, “when teaching a procedure, if a learner skips a step during a performance of the procedure, the learner should be reminded of the step by asking the learner a question that prompts the learner to recognize the omission.” When we provide more precision in a principle or method of instruction, we usually find that it needs to be different for different situations. Reigeluth (1999a) referred to the contextual factors that influence the effects of methods as “situationalities.”