Gagne's Learning Theories

Robert Gagneand Learning Hierarchy

(Contributions to Science Instruction)

Prepared and Presented by :KRISTINE ANN B. DE JESUS

BEEd 4-23

I-TOPIC: Gagne’s Impacts to Science Teaching

SUB-TOPICS:A. Taxonomy of Learning

OutcomesB. Terminal TasksC. Difference between

Procedural Tasks Analysis and Hierarchal Tasks Analysis

I-TOPIC: Gagne’s Impacts to Science Teaching

SUB-TOPICS:

D. Gagne’s Hierarchy of LearningE. Gagne’s 9 Events of

Instruction F. Curriculum Implementation of Learning HierarchyG. Gagne’s Contribution to

Education- (Science Teaching)

II-OBJECTIVES:

After the discussion the students of BEEd 4-23 are expected to:

a. describe the different types of Learning Outcomes according to R. Gagne;

b. describe terminal tasks;

c. Differentiate Procedural Tasks Analysis from Hierarchal Analysis;

II-OBJECTIVES:

d. identify Gagne’s 9 Events of Instruction and their corresponding processes;

e. identify Gagne’s Hierarchy of Learning;

f. link Gagne’s Hierarchy of Learning to Science Instruction;

g. Illustrate a Hierarchal Task Analysis

GUIDE QUESTIONS:

According to Gagne, there are different types of Learning. What are these?

Enumerate and describe Gagne’s 9 events of instruction

Illustrate Gagne’s Hierarchy of Learning

• What are the Learning Outcomes introduced by Robert Gagne?

• What are internal conditions?• What are external conditions?• What are some of Gagne’s contribution

to science instruction?

GUIDE QUESTIONS:

• Born in 1916 in North Andover, Massachusetts

• Received Bachelors of Arts and earned his doctoral from Brown University

Robert Gagne’s Theoretical Background

Gagne built on the work of behavioral and information

processing theories by translating principles from their learning theories into practical instructional strategies

that teachers could employ with directed instruction.

• Well known for “Theory of Conditional Learning”

• Consist of 3 distinct component :Taxonomy of learning outcomes - learning

domain9 instructional eventsSpecific learning condition - Hierarchy of

Learning

Robert Gagne’s Background & Published Works

Gagne’s 5 Types of Learning Outcomes

Learning Domains :5 types of learning outcome

Outcome or Ability

Meaning Performance example

*Intellectual skill

Ability to interact with surroundings using concept symbols

Identify the diagonal of a square.Explaining why ice freezes at 0˚C.Predicting the rate of growth of a plant based on conditions of water, soil, light, etc.

Cognitive strategy

Ability to control the individual’s behaviour to learn, remember & think.

To draw a chart for organizing data. To reason backwards to solve problem. Breaking up a problem into various parts.

4 Levels of Intellectual Skills

1. Discrimination- Making different responses to the different members of a particular class.

2. Concrete Concept-Responding in a single way to all members of a particular class of observable events.

3. Rule Using-Applying a rule to a given situation or condition by responding to a class of inputs with a class of actions.

4. Problem Solving-Combining lower level rules to solve problems in a situation never encountered.

Learning Domains :5 types of learning outcome

Outcome or Ability

Meaning Performance example

*Intellectual skill

Ability to interact with surroundings using concept symbols

Identify the diagonal of a square.Explaining why ice freezes at 0˚C.Predicting the rate of growth of a plant based on conditions of water, soil, light, etc.

Cognitive strategy

Ability to control the individual’s behaviour to learn, remember & think.

To draw a chart for organizing data. To reason backwards to solve problem. Breaking up a problem into various parts.

Outcome orAbility

Meaning PerformanceExample

*Verbal Information

Development of information using language

Naming the parts of an electric circuit & the function of each part. Listing objects that can be recycled. Stating characteristic of light.

Motor skills Manipulative skills & carrying out routine work.

Preparing a microscope slide. Build a model of a simple machine. Measuring the weight of an object using a balance.

Attitude Change of attitude towards an object, another person, situation & change in effective domain.

Making choices in the preparation of an insects collection. Visit science museum voluntarily & choose to borrow a book on dinosaurs.

VERBAL INFORMATION

1.) Labels & Facts- Naming or making a verbal “response” to a specific unit.

2.) Bodies of knowledge- Recalling a large body of interconnected facts.

Outcome orAbility

Meaning PerformanceExample

*Verbal Information

Development of information using language

Naming the parts of an electric circuit & the function of each part. Listing objects that can be recycled. Stating characteristic of light.

Motor skills Manipulative skills & carrying out routine work.

Preparing a microscope slide. Build a model of a simple machine. Measuring the weight of an object using a balance.

Attitude Change of attitude towards an object, another person, situation & change in effective domain.

Making choices in the preparation of an insects collection. Visit science museum voluntarily & choose to borrow a book on dinosaurs.

Internal Conditions of Learning

• essential prerequisites- particular skills that become an integral part of new learning

• supportive prerequisites - capabilities that facilitate learning, regardless of the type of outcome

External Conditions of Learning

External events are those events outside the learner that activate and

support the internal processes of learning. The appropriate provision of external events is the framework for

planning instruction.

Determining the Learning Structure

*Learning Hierarchies: Provide one of the ways to describe the “structure” of any topic, course, or discipline ---In the analysis of topic----

1. Begin with the statement of the terminal objectivity.2. Identify a subordinate set of tasks or subtopics, each an

individual learning act, that must be considered pre-requisites for the learning.

3. Analyze each of the tasks or subtopics until one has arrived at performances that learners are known to possess, at which point the analysis stops.

Terminal Task

TASK A TASK B TASK C

A-1

B-1 B-2

C-1

The Learning Hierarchy : It’s Structure

In constructing the Learning Hierarchy of subordinate (pre-requisite) learnings for a given task, these questions are asked:

“What must the learner already know how to do, in order to learn this performance/task?”

and/or

“What would the learner have to know how to do, in order to learn this performance/task,

given instructions such as_____________________________?”

Terminal Task

TASK A TASK B TASK C

A-1

B-1 B-2

C-1

The Learning Hierarchy : It’s Structure

Subordinate (pre-requisite tasks)

TASK ANALYSIS-the process of identifying the subordinate/pre-requisite tasks

Subordinate Tasks

Terminal Objective

Terminal Task

TASK ANALYSIS

LEARNING HIERARCHY

Some Basic Differences Between a Procedural Task Analysis and a Hierarchical Analysis

• Hierarchical Task Analysis"What must the

learner know or be able to do to achieve

this task?"

• Procedural Task Analysis

"What are the mental and/or

physical steps that the learner must go through in order to

complete this task?"


• Hierarchical Task Analysis

1. Developed bottom up, from general to specific.

2. Based on learning taxonomies, starting from the most complex to the least complex


1. Developed linearly and sequentially, step-by-step.

2. Not concerned with the levels of the learning taxonomies, it is procedural in nature.



3. Represented in terms of levels of tasks. 4. Read bottom-up


3. Represented in the form of a flowchart or an outline.4. read from left to right or from top to bottom



5. Each task is a prerequisite to the task directly above it.


5. You can break down some of the tasks within the flowchart into an outline format if those tasks have subtasks.



6. List all your givens or assumptions as prerequisites at the very bottom of the hierarchy.


6. You must always have a START and an END

PROCEDURAL TASK ANALYSIS

HIERARCHAL TASK ANALYSIS

Gagne’s Hierarchy of Learning

• WHAT IS LEARNING?-Change in behavior-A result of reinforced practice-Consists of Stimuli, Learner and Responses

• WHAT IS HIERARCHY?

WHAT IS LEARNING HIERARCHY?-Set of specified intellectual capabilities according to an ordered relationship to each other. Thus the entire set of ordered intellectual skills formed a hierarchy that was considered to bear some relation to a plan for effective instruction.

-Classification of a group -A system in which people or things are placed in a series of levels with different importance or status

The development of “intelectual skills requires learning that amounts to a building process.

Lower level skills provide a necessary foundation for higher level ones.

To teach a skill, a teacher must first identify its prerequisite skills and make sure the students possess them.

The list of building block skills is called learning hierarchies.

Learning Hierarchies

Robert Gagne’s Hierarchy of Learning

1) Signal Learning Learn how to respond to a signal, like

Pavlov’s dog (Pavlov’s classical conditioned response)

Usually the response is emotional 2) Stimulus(S) – Response(R)

Learning Learn precise response to precise signal /

stimulus Different from signal learning, signal

learning leads to involuntary responses, whereas the responses in S-R learning are voluntarily controlled.

Robert Gagne’s Hierarchy of Learning3) Psychomotor Connection Learning

“CHAINING” Occurs when a chain of stimuli and

responses are formed Lean to follow procedures Able to chain 2 or more stimulus-

response4) Verbal Association Learning

Use terminology in verbal chains5) Multiple Discrimination Learning

Learn how to distinguish between similar stimuli

Make different responses to each type of stimulus, even when they may be perceptually similar.

6) Concept Learning Ability to generalize, or classify

7.) Principle/RULE Learning Viewed as a chain of two or more

concepts. “PROCESS SKILLS” Learn to apply rules


PROCESS SKILLS

Basic Science Processeso Observingo Classifyingo Measuring

o Using space-time relations

o Communicatingo Inferringo Predicting

Integrated Science Processes

o Formulating Hypothesis

o Defining Operationallyo Controlling variableso Interpreting data

o Experimenting (most complex)

8) Problem Solving Highest learning type which lead to the

discovery of higher order rules All other types of learning must have

been completed for it to be present.


4 Important Types of Learning to Science Teaching

1. Stimulus-response learning (S-R)-Learners concentrate on linking

names & objects, objects & events, actions & reactions2. Multiple Discrimination Learning

-Learning depends on concrete materials and rich experiences

3. Concept Learning- If the learners have the skill in

separating and identifying the characteristics of objects and events, they will be able to infer and create concepts.4. Principle Learning (Process Skills)

A. Basic Science ProcessesB. Integrated Science Processes

4 Important Types of Learning to Science Teaching

PROBLEM SOLVING

• Terminal task• Sub-tasks to terminal

tasks• Pre-requisites to

subtasks arranged in a systematic way from simple to complex

• “Smoothly guided tour” of a constructed learning hierarchy

• Highly structured and organized learning

• Instructional objectives stated in behavioral terms

Facts, Concepts, Principles

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*PROBLEM-SOLVING IN LEARNING HIERARCHY

• Set of component skills that must be learned before the complex skill of which they are a part can be learned

• Classifying different types of learning in term of the “degree of complexity” of the mental involved.

• Higher orders of learning build upon the lower levels.• The lowest 4 orders tend to focus on the more

behavioral aspects.• The highest 4 focus on the more cognitive aspects


Robert Gagne’s Hierarchy of LearningProblem Solving

Principle Learning

Concept Learning

Multiple Discrimination Learning

Verbal Association Learning

Psychomotor Connection Learning

Stimulus – Response Learning

Signal Learning

Increasin

g co

mp

lexity

More to behavioral aspects

More to cognitive aspects

Curriculum Implementation of the Learning Hierarchy

AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) curriculum- Science-A Process Approach

(S-APA)-The development of intellectual skills (process

skills) relevant to science in a systematic manner Gagne’s approach is that of “behavioral learning

engineering” -A smoothly guided instructional sequence, which

starts from the simple stimulus-response and ends with problem-solving

Gagne has had considerable influence on education and training in corporate and

government sectors as well as some influence in public schools.

*Field of instructional design that seeks to take what is known about human learning and apply it to instruction.*“Father of instructional design.” He had wide influence

on people who follow a systematic approach to designing instruction.

*His ideas about domains of learning *His concept of instructional events.

His Contributions

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The Nine Events of Instruction Event of Instruction

• 1. Gaining attentionGiving learner a stimulus to ensure reception of coming instruction

Learning Process

• Attention

Methods for gaining learners’ attention include: — Stimulate students with novelty, uncertainty and surprise — Pose thought-provoking questions to the students — Have students pose questions to be answered by other students

50

The Nine Events of Instruction Event of Instruction

• 2. Informing the learner of the objectiveTelling learner what they will be able to do for the instruction

• 3. Stimulating recall of prior learningAsking for recall of existing relevant knowledge

Learning Process

• Expectancy

• Retrieval to working memory

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The Nine Events of Instruction

Event of Instruction• 4. Presenting the stimulus

Displaying the content

Learning Process

• Pattern recognition; selective perception

Ways to present and cue lesson content include: — Present vocabulary — Provide examples — Present multiple versions of the same content, e.g., video, demonstration, lecture, podcast, group work — Use a variety of media to address different learning preferences

52


Event of Instruction

• 5. Providing learner guidanceSupplying organization and relevance to enhance understanding

Learning Process

• Chunking, rehearsal, encoding

Methods to provide learning guidance include: — Provide instructional support as needed — Model varied learning strategies — Use examples and non-examples— Provide case studies, analogies, visual images and metaphors

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Event of Instruction

• 6. Eliciting performanceAsking learners to respond, demonstrating learning

Learning Process

• Retrieval, responding

Ways to activate learner processing include:

— Elicit student activities— Elicit recall strategies— Facilitate student elaborations— Help students integrate new knowledge

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Events of Instruction

• 7. Providing FeedbackGiving immediate feedback on learner's performance.

Learning Process

• Reinforcement, error correction

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Events of Instruction

• 8. Assessing performanceAssessing and providing feedback to learners

Learning Process

• Responding, retention

Methods for testing learning include: — Pretest for mastery of prerequisites — Conduct a post-test to check for mastery of content or skills — Embed questions throughout instruction through oral questioning and/or quizzes — Include objective or criterion-referenced performances which measure how well a student has learned a topic

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Events of Instruction• 9. Enhancing retention and transfer

Providing diverse practice to generalize the capability

Learning Process• Retention, retrieval,

generalization

Methods for helping learners internalize new knowledge include:

— Paraphrase content — Use metaphors — Generating examples — Create concept maps or outlines — Create job-aids, references, templates, or wizards

REMEMBER!

• According to Robert Gagne, there are nine events and corresponding cognitive processes that activate processes needed for effective learning. Gagne believed all lessons should include this sequence of events.

• He believed that basic concepts must be understood first before moving to a higher level.

Gagne’s structured learning hierarchies has greatly influenced the new elementary science curriculum.

-Analyzing a task into subtasks and this analysis continues until the simplest pre-requisite is identified.Task Analysis is the heart of

Instructional Design -New level of skill and knowledge are

attained if process and product skills are developed in proper sequence Although Gagne proposes 8 Types of

Learning, there are 4 that are most relevant to science teaching.

1.Stimulus-Response Learning2. Multiple Discrimination Learning3. Concept Learning4. Principle Learning (Process Skill)

a. Basic Science Processesb. Integrated Science Processes

Gagne’s Approach is that “Behavioral Learning Engineering” (smoothly guided instructional sequence starting from stimulus-response learning and ends with problem solving

THANK YOU!