Robert Gagne & 9 Instructional Events

Donna Winkler Clendaniel

Paper #3 - Written for Dr. Jeffrey Kenton ISTC 663: Applied Psychology Towson University, Fall 2003 December 3, 2003

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Table of Contents
Title Page ..................................................................................................................................................... 1 Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................................... 2 Robert Gagne .............................................................................................................................................. 3 Meaningful Learning ................................................................................................................................. 4 Simple Learning Tasks .............................................................................................................................. 6 Table of Gagnes Events and Lessons: Teach Preschool Tasks............................................... 6 References .....................................................................................................................................................

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ROBERT GAGNE
Background & Published Works
Robert Gagne was a psychologist who pioneered various instructional strategies. Gagne was born in 1916 in North Andover, Massachusetts. In 1937, he received is Bachelors of Arts from University and then three years later earned his doctoral from Brown university. His professional career included a variety of industries including academics, research and development, and military training and human performance. During World War II, Gagne developed test for classification of Air Force crewmembers. Later at Lackland and Lowry Air Force labs he conducted studies of human learning and performance. He served as a professor at the following institutions: Connecticut College for Women (1940), Princeton University (1958-1962), University of California at Berkley (1966-1969), and Florida State University (1969-1992). At each of these institutions he had a major influence with his research. At Connecticut College he studied learning and transfer of training in multi-discrimination of motor tasks. At Princeton University he developed the elementary science curriculum and discovered learning hierarchy. While at the University of California, Berkley he continued his studies on learning hierarchies and began researching instructional psychology. At He also served as the Director of Research at the American Institutes for Research in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At Florida State University he helped to establish a graduate degree in Instructional Design. From 1992-1994, he served as a Senior Fellow on the National Research Council at Brooks Air Force Base. It was here he began using his events of instruction in training and developed a technical training program (ITGRN, 2003) Robert Gagne has published several works. His most famous, published in 1965, is the Conditions of Learning. This work went through 3 additional revisions. Gagne also wrote Essentials of Learning for Instruction, Learning Hierarchies, and Memory Structures and Learning Outcomes.

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MEANINGFUL LEARNING
Gagne is well known for his Theory of Conditional Learning. This theory incorporates 3 distinct components: taxonomy of learning outcomes, specific learning conditions, and the 9 events of instructions. I will be focusing on the nine events of instructions, only highlighting the other two components. Blooms taxonomy dealt with the cognitive outcome. Bloom then worked with Masia to develop a taxonomy that dealt with the affective domain. Simpsons plan dealt with the psychomotor domain. Gagnes taxonomy however was the first to identify learning outcomes in all three domains. Gagne's taxonomy contained 5 components: Verbal Information, Intellectual Skills, Cognitive Strategies, Attitudes, and Motor Skills. Gagne proposed his taxonomy with the assumption, that different outcomes call for different learning conditions. The second component of Gagnes theory is the specific learning conditions. Gagne indicated that it was important to categorize learning goals according to the type of learning outcome. By doing this the instructor can tailor their instructions to reach the desired outcome, focus on what may not be clear, and create concrete instructional objectives. Within his taxonomy, Gagne identified the Critical Learning Conditions that are essential for learning the outcomes. For example if you wanted someone to memorize a vocabulary list, you provide cues for recall and generalization. Gagne is best known for his nine instructional events. Several instructional designers use this when creating lessons. The events may vary in order, however the outcome should still be the same. The first step in the process is to Gain Attention. Simply saying, Class is ready to begin can get the class attention. Or you may decide to perform a skit, or show puzzles on screen. The second step is Informing the Learners of the Objective, for example Create an APA citation list. You do not want to surprise the learner in your lesson. Making them aware of the objective early on

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can help them retain their attention to the objective at hand. Next, step 3 indicates that we should Stimulate the Recall of Prior Learning. Ask your class, Have you ever had to write a source list before? By doing this they will begin to see similarities or understand that there are similarities between Word and PowerPoint. Step four is to Present the Stimulus. Presenting the stimulus will vary depending on what your outcome is within the taxonomy. For example, if they objective is to bake a cake, you may be in the motor skill arena and will need to demonstrate this task. Or if their objective is to write an APA citation list, you may show them the most common sources and how to format them. Step five involves Providing Learning Guidance. The instructor should reference the learning conditions that are unique to the learning outcome. By providing guidance you can do it numerous ways, verbal communication, or discovery learning. It can also be written, for example walking students through the various APA styles for citations depending on their source information. Step six tells us that we should Elicit Performance; in other words, ask them to complete the objective. For example, if the objective was to learn APA style formatting, ask students to write 5 different types of APA citations. Step seven requires the instructor to Provide Feedback. Now that the students have completed the task, check the citations to see if the format is correct or not. If the answers are not correct, as an instructor we should provide guidance that will help them detect similar errors in the future. In Step eight, we will be Assessing Performance. This may be the formal test at the end of a lesson. In Step Nine, as an instructor we should work on Enhancing Retention and Transfer. On the next paper the students write, they may be asked to write an APA citation list at the end to document their sources. This would enforce what they have learned.

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SIMPLE TASKS TEACH JACOB PRESCHOOL TASKS

Lesson #1 Shapes
Gaining Attention Show Jacob toys that he has already that are various shapes

Lesson #2 Colors
Create bins 1 red, 1 yellow, 1 blue with arrangement of same colored objects

Lesson#3 Numbers
Use large numbers in bright primary numbers pinned onto Jacobs bulletin board. Identify numbers 1-9, and 0

Lesson #4 Letters
Use large numbers in bright primary letters pinned onto Jacobs bulletin board. Identify letters of the alphabet A-Z

Lesson #5 Transportation
Using pictures downloaded from the Internet of all different transportation methods

Informing Learner of the Objective

Identify basic shapes: circle, triangle, heart, oval, moon, and star visually and verbally At this age, Jacob did not possess prior learning on shapes. For his recall, we showed him some of his favorite toys.

Identify basic colors: blue, yellow, red, orange, etc.

Identify basic transportation: plane, police car, school bus, fire engine, helicopter, boat

Stimulating Recall of Prior Learning

Look into bins and pull out objects he is already familiar with.

Show him numbers are all around him grocery store, home on microwave

Refer to his name that we have been teaching him showing him that it is made of letters. Also show that letters are always around him. Using Noggin website and flashcards, work with Jake on his letters Show Jake where letters

Talk to him about vehicles or transportation that he has already ridden in.

Presenting the Stimulus

Work with Jake on his shapes with book and wooden puzzle and cutout shapes. Show examples of

Teach lesson to Jacob on colors using book and computer game

Teach Jacob his numbers using foam numbers, JumpStart Toddler, and flashcards Show Jake places around

Using transportation puzzle work with Jake on his identification

Providing Learning

Show Jake various colors

Show Jake different

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Guidance

toys that Jake has. As we show him he asks what shape is this?

on objects around the house

him where numbers can be found (i.e. scale, microwave, computer, TV) Using large cutout numbers ask him to identify numbers Correct Jake as he goes through the numbers.

are found (i.e. newspaper, magazine, computer, products)

transportation vehicles as we drive

Eliciting Performance

Have Jake work with puzzle and shape book to work on identify shapes? As Jake works with the puzzles, we provide guidance and feedback if he associates the wrong shape with the object. Using flash cards, we quiz Jacobs retention.

Using flashcards with color blocks on them, quiz Jake on his colors Correct Jake as he goes along, telling him the correct answers as we move along

Use Letter flashcards and computer game for him to identify letters Computer game provides him feedback as he goes along. Correct him when using flashcards. Review the letters he missed and reinforce the learning with a new task

Use puzzle and flashcards to quiz Jake

Providing Feedback

Correct him with right or wrong

Assessing Performance

Look back at the cards he missed and work on those colors again

Review the numbers he missed and reinforce the learning with a new task

Review the transportation vehicles he missed and reinforce the learning with actual objects/models Take Jake to various places where the vehicles can be found and quiz him

Enhancing Retention and Transfer

Working on worksheets and using other shaped objects.

Show Jake various items and ask him to identify colors

Read Counting with Elmo and ask Jake to identify numbers.

Read a book and ask Jake to identify letters.

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REFERENCES
Author Unknown. Career of Robert Gagne. (2003). Retrieved November 18, 2003, from Instructional Technology Global Resource Network: Web site: http://www.ittheory.com/gagnec.htm Gagne, R. M. (1970). The Conditions of Learning (2nd ed.). New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, Inc. (Original work published 1965) Gagne, R.M. (1969) Learning Hierarchies. Educational Psychologist, 6, 1-9. Gagne, R.M., Briggs, L.J. & Wager, W. (1992). Principles of Instructional Design 4th Edition. Fort Worth: Hartcourt Brace Jonavoich. Gagne, R.M. & Driscoll, M.P. (1988). Essentials of Learning for Instruction. (2nd Edition) Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Kearsley, G. (n.d.). Conditions of Learning (R. Gagne). Retrieved November 18, 2003, from Tip Into Practice Web site: http://tip.psychology.org/gagne.html Ritchey, R. C., Ed. (n.d.). The Legacy of Robert M. Gagne. Retrieved November 18, 2003, from ERIC: Clearinghouse on Information and Technology Web site: http://ericit.org/toc/gagnetoc.shtml

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