Models for optimizing the learning process.

This paper is concerned with showing how certain instructional problems can be reformulated as problems in the mathematical theory of optimizations. A common instructional paradigm is outlined and a notational system is proposed which allows the paradigm to be restated as a multistage decision process with an explicit mathematical learning model embedded within it. The notion of an optimal stimulus presentation strategy is introduced and some problems involved in determining such a strategy are discussed. A brief description of dynamic programming is used to illustrate how optimal strategies might be discovered in practical situations.