ABSTRACT
In this chapter we fi rst explain what situational principles are and how they can serve to increase the precision of guidance for instruction. We then turn our attention to understanding which situations are important; that is, which situations are likely to have the greatest infl uence on the selection of methods. Aft er defi ning both values and conditions as situations that are important, in our view, we link situationalities with universalities through the metaphor of a universe with galaxies and solar systems, to illustrate the relationships among various methods and approaches. We believe that there are clusters of methods tied to clusters of situationalities, and that one way to move toward a common knowledge base in instructional theory is to identify where those clusters may best serve one another. We conclude with some thoughts about these clusters of situationalities and methods.
