Universal Principles of Instruction
Application of Merrill’s first principles (Activation, Demonstration, Application, Integration) to real world, complex tasks maximizes effectiveness of the strategy (Merrill, 2009, p. 55).
Integrated skills are retained as mental models; reinforced over a progression of tasks, they improve learners’ performance (Merrill, p. 54).
Situational Principles of Instruction (guidelines for use)
Situational principles increase precision in instruction. Three ways to make instructional methods more precise (Reigeluth and Carr-Chellmann, 2009, pp. 58-61): Kinds, Parts, Criteria.
Kinds of Practice: Use procedures (a set of steps) to accomplish a goal; Practice a skill under varying conditions.
Parts of the Method: Identify the component parts/steps in a procedure; Recognize/Distinguish which parts are situational (only used at certain stages in skill development)
Criteria: Success of a Simulation instructional strategy can be measured in effectiveness (succeed in lighting a bulb); efficiency (how often, and how well a task is carried out); and appeal of the strategy (if there are enough users to make it economical, for example; or if students are intrigued to take ownership of the work and experience joy in mastering task and understanding applied theory.
The New Learning Paradigm 