ABSTRACT
Elaboration Theory was perhaps the first to place any emphasis on strategies to synthesize the instructional content, that is, to explicitly teach the interrelationships within the content. This theory may be the only one that specifically allows for some learner control over the selection and sequencing of the content. As with M. David Merrill’s Component Display Theory, the integrative roots of the Elaboration Theory have resulted in many prescriptions being similar to those of other instructional theories. The purpose of the Reigeluth-Merrill Elaboration Theory of Instruction is to make life easier for instructional designers by integrating current knowledge about what the overall structure and sequence of a course or curriculum should be like. The most important prescription of the Elaboration Theory is the use of a special kind of simple-to-complex sequence. There are many possible varieties of simple-to-complex sequences, some of which have better effects on learning than others.
