On a theory of instruction: Why different forms of instruction result in similar knowledge

Abstract

Why can instructional processes having widely different topographies—such as teaching through a demonstration (modeling), teaching through verbal explanation, and teaching by simply providing an occasion for the child's direct contingent experience—all result in the development of the same or similar knowledge? A recent series of experiments that examined the role of instruction in the intellectual development of young children provides evidence for the equivalence of different forms of instruction and leads to the postulation of a set of invariant processes of information exchange that underlies the surface characteristics of various forms of instruction.