The Specifics of Gagne's Theories and Research

The Specifics of Gagne's Theories and Research

There are two main pieces to Gagne's Conditions of Learning Theory. 

1) The identification of the five major categories, or levels, of learning, explaining that different internal and external conditions are often necessary for each level:

• verbal information
• intellectual skills
• cognitive strategies
• motor skills
• attitudes

2) The way that we as teachers must understand these levels and how to teach according to all styles of learning. 

The significance, of course, of the five major categories of learning is that each style of learning requires different styles of teaching. In other words, this theory exemplifies the details for much of what our job as educators will entail. These are the nine steps of instruction that Gagne suggests a teacher must follow in order to have the desired learning outcomes:

• Gaining attention
• Informing learners of the objective
• Stimulating recall of prior learning
• Presenting the stimulus 
• Providing learning guidance
• Eliciting performance
• Providing feedback
• Assessing performance
• Enhancing retention and transfer

Dr. Robert Gagne Mills; Psychologist Bio and Legacy

Dr. Robert Gagne Mills; Psychologist Bio and Legacy 

       

        In his lifetime, cognitive theorist Robert Gagne Mills (1916-2002) served as Professor in the Department of Educational Research at Florida State University, as well as Research Director of the Perceptual and Motor Skills Laboratory of the Unites States Air Force. He was an educational psychologist who is best known for his theory on the conditions of learning (how we learn) and on the nine events of instruction (how we must view instruction because of how we learn).
        The initial stages of his idea for the Conditions of Learning Theory reportedly came when Gagne was studying military training programs. His eventual discovery is one that the teaching community now considers common knowledge. Paraphrased, it means that he was the one to discover that people can have vastly different learning styles and more importantly that every different learning style needs different kinds of instruction.
         Gagne's discovery has made today's teaching techniques possible. Clearly, as shown by the ongoing research and coining of different learning disabilities and the invention/enforcement of IEPs and other educational support plans, the learning community understands that there are different kinds of students with different styles of learning. It is a student's right to have their way of learning be honored by their teachers, which makes it the teacher's job to be capable of translating information for all types of learners.


Here is a great video I found that briefly outlines this Professor's biography, but more importantly it fully reviews his Conditions of Learning Theory and the Nine Steps for Delivering Instruction.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOIGhyiCwpU