Merrill's First Principles

Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction emphasizes that the effectiveness of learning experiences are rooted in problem-solving. Merrill’s design model is made up of five principles:

Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction. (Gardner, J. 2010)

The instruction is presented through real-world tasks that steadily become more difficult throughout the lesson. The students activate the relative cognitive framework by recalling or demonstrating prior knowledge or experience.  Next, they observe a demonstration of new content and apply it to the real-world task or problem. Students receive continuous decreasing feedback and guidance throughout the lesson. Finally, students integrate their newly acquired knowledge through reflection or discussion, and scout for new and creative ways to implement it (Merrill, 2002).

Merrill’s model is designed in a way that allows instructors to create unique and personalized ways of presenting meaningful content. This model is very versatile and can be used in many areas, all with the ability to provide positive results. Unfortunately, it is not the most well known Instructional Design model and tends to be overlooked. It also takes some practice putting it into action.  

All of the studies on Merrill’s First Principles I researched incorporated active learning.  Active learning transpires when learners connect or communicate with a big idea, allowing them to apply it in their everyday life. It creates a student-centered environment, making the teacher the facilitator, granting the learners space to problem-solve with limited guidance. (Jalilehvand, 2016).

Another trend I noticed in my reading was that environment matters. Learners have higher improvement or success rates when they learn in the setting where they perform the task.  In Design criteria for work-based learning: Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction expanded, Collis and Margaryan study the performance and satisfaction rates when blending work-based activities and ‘textbook’ problems while in the everyday work setting. By blending a personalized learning environment with an achievable pathway, an assessment is continuously occurring. This study shows that learning in a blended setting and receiving coaching and feedback from a supervisor or learning partner is more effective than a typical classroom setting (Collis & Margaryan, 2005).

Merrill’s Design is connected to many things and effectiveness is one of them.  It is also linked to high student satisfaction, performance, creativity, and motivation.  In Applying Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction: Practical Methods Based on a Review of the Literature, Gardner of a study conducted on teaching a spreadsheet course.  “By using real-world scenarios and following the four-phase cycle of instruction, students achieved a 30% performance improvement over the traditional instruction, including a 41% improvement in time performance” (Gardner, p. 5).

Chong and Lee (2012) used Merrill’s Design model to create a pedagogical-technical framework to improve creative writing.  “Motivational levels were also high among the students as the majority of them were able to complete all modules before the end of the third session and were encouraged by their own improvements in their creative writing” (Chong & Lee, p. 655). The prototype, they named Storyworld, also increased creativity, improved story development, and clarity of ideas and language skills.

Merrill’s First Principles is an effective way for designers and instructors to create a personalized, real-world scenario that learners can use to problem solve and relate.  The goal is to increase student interaction with the content.  Whether it is used in business, education, or as a platform to build a collaborative mobile learning prototype; it encourages curiosity, increases creativity, and enhances critical thinking.

Resources:

Chong, S., & Lee, C. (2012). Developing a pedagogical-technical framework to improve creative writing. Educational Technology Research & Development, 60(4), 639-657. doi:10.1007/s11423-012-9242-9

Collis, B., & Margaryan, A. (2005). Design criteria for work-based learning: Merrill's First Principles of Instruction expanded. British Journal Of Educational Technology, 36(5), 725-738. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2005.00507.x

DeWitt, D., Alias, N., & Siraj, S. (2014). The design and development of a Collaborative mLearning prototype for Malaysian secondary school science. Educational Technology Research & Development, 62(4), 461-480. doi:10.1007/s11423-014-9340-y

Gardner, J. (2010). Applying Merrill’s First principles of instruction: Practical methods based on a review of the literature. Educational Technology Magazine, 50(2),  20-25.

Jalilehvand, M. (2016). Study the Impact of Merrill’s First Principles of Instruction on Students’ Creativity.   Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 7(2), 313-317. Doi:10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n2p313 

Merrill, M. D. (2002). First principles of instruction. Educational Technology Research and Development, 50(3), 43-59.