I am offering ten principles for writing material for educational courses. Principle seven refers to logic - the logic you use to develop a topic for students.

1. Principle 7
Logic within particular topics
Glenn Martin
March 2017

2.  Logic within particular topics should be clear, so
that the concepts build progressively, and move
from simple to complex, from concrete to
abstract/general, from the whole to details, and
from the known to the unknown.

3.  The starting point for content is the selection of
material that will achieve the course’s objectives
(knowledge, understanding and skills).

4.  The general objectives for the course need to be
translated into specific objectives for the topic.

5. The desired outcome is that
students can perform at
three levels:
1 remember the content
2 understand the content
3 apply it appropriately in
real contexts.

6.  How do you sequence content?
 Generally, start with terms, define them to
reinforce their meanings (concepts), describe
any facts in relation to the concepts in question,
and explain procedures and/or principles which
make use of or which support or extend the
concepts in question.
 Terms → Concepts → Context and facts →
Procedures and/or principles

7.  Students need tools to help them build hierarchical
knowledge structures and understand the dynamic
relationships between elements. Students develop
general schema before moving onto specific details.

8.  Analyse each major concept into layers of minor
concepts, and observe a coherent hierarchy as
far as possible.
 Identify prerequisite knowledge and skills.

9.  Consider potential difficulties students may
encounter in learning the facts and concepts.
Most effort should be given to the most complex
material. Simple concepts should be dealt with
quickly.

10.  The logical design of the material is related to
the general teaching strategy, which is either a
didactic approach or a discovery approach.

11.  The didactic design
gives information to
the student, and
checks for retention.

12.  The Discovery design follows an experiential
approach, creating the conditions within which
students can reach insights on their own.

13.  The sequence of material for some types of
content may also proceed from a general rule to
an example or from examples to a general rule.
Example

14.  A foundation of the known is established so that
students can then handle the unknown. Students
usually attempt to relate new information to
things they already know.