THE INTEGRATION OF INSTRUCTIONAL-SYSTEMS DESIGN MODELS AND CONSTRUCTIVISTIC DESIGN PRINCIPLES

This article first addresses the development of information and proble m-solving procedures as ''objectified'' knowledge and the continuously increasing amount of it. For education decisions must be made which p art of it should be passed on to future generations as obligatory for all members of a community or only for those persons who will prepare themselves for a special position. Than a description of instructional design is provided and the recent criticisms are discussed. This lead s to an outline of an integrative framework for the description of inf ormation and problem-solving procedures and to a problem-solving appro ach for the acquisition of knowledge and skills. Three categories of p roblems are distinguished, categorization or description problems, int erpretation problems and design problems. The solution of the many pro blems result in different cognitive constructs. Once these are publish ed and selected for education they form the content of the subjects. F or the development or construction of knowledge and the practicing of skills the learners should be involved in problem-solving activities, such as exploration, imagination, discovery, application and design. T he required results of learning may differ. Three levels of performanc e, illustrated within the categories of problems are distinguished. It is shown that the content of the subjects and levels of performance c an guide the selection of instructional strategies and make it possibl e to classify the learning situations. Finally some implications for c urriculum design and for the selection of problems to be solved by the students are discussed.