> Evidence for the superiority of guided instruction is explained in the context of our knowledge
of human cognitive architecture, expert–novice differences, and cognitive load. Although un-
guided or minimally guided instructional approaches are very popular and intuitively appeal-
ing, the point is made that these approaches ignore both the structures that constitute human
cognitive architecture and evidence from empirical studies over the past half-century that con-
sistently indicate that minimally guided instruction is less effective and less efficient than in-
structional approaches that place a strong emphasis on guidance of the student learning pro-
cess. The advantage of guidance begins to recede only when learners have sufficiently high
prior knowledge to provide “internal” guidance. Recent developments in instructional research
and instructional design models that support guidance during instruction are briefly described.
