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 optimization.A common instructional paradigm is outlined and a notational system is proposed which allows the paradigm to be restated as a multi-stage 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.