Structural learning theory: Current status and new perspectives

This article presents the current status and new perspectives on the Struct ural Learning Theory (SLT). Special consideration is given to how SLT has b een influenced by recent research in software engineering, and the range of possibilities it opens for instructional research and practice in the twen ty-first century. Starting with fundamental precepts of the instructional p rocess, a generalization of the SLT is proposed that offers an integrated, parsimonious, operational and predictive (as well as explanatory) account o f competence, cognition and behavior potentially from birth onward, and the ir implications for instruction. Supporting examples and experimental resea rch are cited in context.