Definition
Tools and materials used by an instructor to support a lecture or lesson, including chalkboards, whiteboards, models, charts, slides, videos, computer-based presentations, and physical training aids. They are used to clarify ideas, hold attention, and help students grasp material that would be harder to understand from spoken words alone.
Plain English
The teaching tools an instructor uses alongside talking — things like diagrams, models, slides, and videos that help the student see and understand what is being taught.
Context Anchor
Seen in aviation lesson planning and teaching, especially when an instructor chooses charts, models, pictures, cockpit equipment, or other tools to support a lecture or demonstration.
Derivation
From Latin instruere, meaning to build or arrange, and devise, meaning a means or method. Together: the means used to build understanding in a student.
Why Pilots Care
For a CFI, well-chosen instructional devices make complex aviation concepts — airspace, weather systems, aerodynamics — far easier for students to absorb, which directly affects how quickly and safely they progress.
Intuition Check
Do not read “devices” as only electronic gadgets. In this context, an instructional device can be anything useful for teaching, such as a drawing, model, chart, photo, aircraft part, video, or simulator.
Example Sentence 1
The instructor used several instructional devices, including a sectional chart and a model aircraft, to explain traffic pattern entries.
Example Sentence 2
Large-scale diagrams of the flight controls served as instructional devices during the preflight lecture.