Advances in research on composite instructional designs – investigating intermediate knowledge and preparation effects

A central phenomenon of learning is that information is encoded more effectively when it connects to learners’ prior knowledge (Schneider & Simonsmaier, 2025). Such prior knowledge is acquired through various opportunities both in classrooms and beyond, before a specific instruction. In formal learning—both in research and in practice—this process can be considered more systematically: Instruction is often deliberately structured into multiple phases, with the assumption that learning becomes more effective when later phases build directly on knowledge gained in immediately preceding phases (e.g., Fyfe et al., 2014; Loibl & Rummel, 2014a; Schwartz & Martin, 2004). Put differently, in complex instructional designs, the outcomes of one phase prepare the ground for the next phase—for example, by reducing its complexity or by sharpening its focus.