Instructions in industry: The difficulty of good explanations

Good instructions should help to structure knowledge and to connect it with what is already known. They should support the development of good mental models through a variety of elements such as explanations, visualizations, and practical exercises. Using a sign system, 20 instructions in six compan ies were observed It was assessed how much instructors activated existing k nowledge, how much they explained general principles behind specific phenom ena, how well structured and easy to follow their instructions were, how mu ch apprentices had the opportunity to practice, and the like. Results show that generalizations are often offered, and visualizations as well as exerc ises are standard. However, these elements are often not used to their full potential, activating existing knowledge is mostly reduced to mere mention ing of related phenomena, and surprisingly often errors and difficulties of the apprentices are not met with clear feedback. The study has implication s for the training of instructors. It also underscores the need to study ev eryday instructional behavior in business settings.