ABSTRACT
In contrast to the worldwide increasing relevance of instruction, there is not much discussion on instructional theory at this time. Therefore, we try to promote the discussion by offering a framework. Our intention is not to give a comprehensive overview of existing approaches but to suggest an architectonic for designing instructional theory. Such an approach may also serve as a framework for evaluating existing theories. Although instructional theory is not in the focus of instructional science now, there exists a strong relation to approaches in different disciplines all over the world. It is not possible to refer to even a fraction of the existing literature within the scope of this chapter. Therefore, we restrict ourselves to offering an approach to an architectonic of instructional theory and abstain from presenting a review. The purpose of this approach is only to offer a framework for discussion and further development. It is not intended to create a general theory of all possible instructional theories with the demand of a philosophy of science analysis. We perceive the design of the architectonics of instructional theory as a heuristic game and UCIT as an example of a possible approach. UCIT is the abbreviation of !!niversal ~onstructive !nstructional !heory. "Universal" refers to the intention that such an approach should cover a variety of different learners, learning environments, and subject matter to be learned. Less elaborated versions of UCIT have already been published in another places (e.g., Schott, 1993, 1994). At the moment we can present only the shell of the unfinished house. Although separated by the Atlantic, both authors came together, discussed this chap-
ter several times, and brought together American and European views. As the first author developed the concepts of the presented architectonics and of UCIT, he is responsible for all the problems with this approach. The coauthor contributes much of the fitting out of this approach and an American semiotic point of view of instruction (e.g., Driscoll, 1990; Driscoll & Rowley, in press).
