Robert Gagne

1. Robert Gagne Nine Events of Instruction Robyn Taylor And Jessica DeJong

2. Biography • Born on August 12, 1916 in North Andover, Massachusetts • Attended Yale University where he got his BA in 1937 • Gagne got his PhD in Brown University in 1940. • He was a professor of sociology and educational psychology at Connecticut College for Women from 1940-1949, Pennsylvania State University from 1945-1946, Princeton from 1958-1949, and the University of California at Berkley form 1966-1969. • Gagne was also a professor in the department of educational research at Florida State University in 1969. • From 1949-1958 Gagne was a research director of the perceptual and motor skills laboratory of the US Air Force at which time he began to develop some of the ideas that would go into his learning theory called the Conditions of Learning. • 1st published his well known book in 1965 called The Conditions of Learning • Died May 1, 2002 at the age of 85 • His work has a big influence on American Education and Industrial training

3. Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction • Gain Attention • Inform learners of objectives • Stimulate recall of prior learning • Present the content • Provide “learning guidance” • Elicit performance • Provide feedback • Assess performance • Enhance retention and transfer to the job

4. 1. Gain Attention • Purpose: make sure that the learners are enthusiastic, ready to learn and participate in activities during the lesson • It is important to give students something that will grab their attention and make them eager to participate • Strategy: start a lesson with a thought provoking question or task

5. 2. Inform Learners of Objectives • Purpose: let your students know your objectives or goals throughout the lesson or course • This initiates the ideas of what is expected of the students and helps motivate the students to complete the course or lesson requirements • Strategy: describe the criteria of a normal performance. An example would be a rubric

6. 3. Stimulate Recall of Prior Learning • Strategy: ask questions about previous knowledge on that topic or personal experiences related to the topic • Purpose: help the students understand new information by relating it to something that they are already familiar with

7. 4. Present the Content • Purpose: to present the new information to the learner • Information should be organized, explained and then demonstrated. • Strategy: provide examples and present new vocabulary

8. 5. Provide “Learning Guidance” • Purpose: let the students know some strategies to help them learn the content and any learning resources that are available to them • Strategy: little tricks to help the students learn new information

9. 6. Elicit Performance • Purpose: to practice the new skill or new information learned. The students are to confirm the new information learned. • Strategy: repetition to retain knowledge

10. 7. Provide Feedback • Purpose: you give feedback after practice to inform the learner how they have performed. • Strategy: what you think the student could improve on and what they could do to make it better or right

11. 8. Assess Performance • Purpose: in order to ensure that the learning objectives have been achieved you must test learners to ensure understanding. The assessment should be completed on their own without any hints or coaching form the instructor. • Strategy: administer a final exam or project

12. 9. Enhance Retention and Transfer to the Job • Purpose: help the learners develop expertise • Strategy: the repetition of newly learned concepts. An example would be rewriting spelling words 10 times.

13. Sarah Porter Case • Sarah is bored • She is yawning during math problems • She is not following along during language arts and writes the word boring in her journal • When she is interested in content (during an artistic lesson) not only does she excel herself but she is willing to help others. • In terms of Gagne’s theory, gaining attention is very important in order to draw her into the lesson and make her interested in what is being taught (what she is learning)

14. Sarah Porter Case (cont.) • Providing Feedback – the teacher should be providing more guidance. Example: when Sarah didn’t follow proper guidelines Ms. Mercer was highly critical and negative (said that she would have liked it if she would have gotten 100%) • Recommendations to Ms. Mercer: provide positive feedback, develop a plan to help Sarah become more active within the classroom and complete work more effectively. Find out what will help retain the attention for the students to be more interested in the lesson. Set up a reward system for the entire class, to get them working as a community for completion of work. To strengthen the relationship between Ms. Mercer and Sarah, they should set up a communication journal for positive feedback and to develop a better connection.

15. Bibliography • Carr, Amy M., and Carr, Chad S. 2000. The Nine Events of Instruction. Integrating Instructional Design in Distance Education. Retrieved February 5, 2009, from http://ide.ed.psu.edu/idde/theories.htm • Kruse, Kevin. 2008. Gagne’s Nine Events of Instruction-An Introduction. Retreived February 5 2009, from http://www.e-learningguru.com/articles/art3_3.htm • Robert Gagne. 2008. Retreived February 5, 2009, from www.nipissingu.ca/education/darleneb/ClassNotes/Gagneppp2.ppt • The P540 Gagne Group. (1996). Robert Mills Gagne’s Biography. Retreived February 5 2009, from http://inst.usu.edu/~mimi/courses/6260/theorists/Gagne/biograph.htm