What is Merrill's First Principles of Instruction?
Merrill's First Principles of Instruction is a framework developed by educational researcher M. David Merrill, who synthesized decades of learning science into five core principles that he found present in every effective instructional design model.
The central idea is that people learn best by doing, not watching. Effective instruction is not about presenting information — it is about engaging learners in real tasks that mirror the problems they will actually face. This template is built around that philosophy.
Best for
Hands-on skills courses, coaching programs, workshops where students need to produce something
Use when
You want learners to actually be able to do the thing after your course — not just understand it conceptually.
The 6 Frames
- Problem — Start with a real-world problem the learner is trying to solve. Not a theoretical scenario — something they will actually face. Anchor the entire course to this problem.
- Activate — Connect to what they already know. What is this similar to? What experience can they draw from? Activation reduces cognitive load and increases retention.
- Demonstrate — Show it done once, clearly. Walk through a complete example before asking learners to try it themselves. Do not skip this step.
- Apply — The learner does it, guided. This is a supported practice — they are not on their own yet. Provide scaffolding, prompts, and checkpoints.
- Integrate — Help them use it in their real life or business. How does this skill apply to their actual situation, not just the exercise you gave them?
- Ship Step — The learner shares, publishes, or hands their work to a real human. This step is what makes the learning stick. Completion without an audience is not completion.
Tips
- The Ship Step is the most important and most skipped step in online courses. Build in a moment where students put their work out into the world — even if it is just sharing it in a community.
- The Activate step is easy to overlook but research consistently shows it improves learning outcomes. Take a minute at the start of each lesson to connect new content to something familiar.
- This template pairs especially well with cohort-based courses where learners can give each other feedback on the Apply and Integrate steps.