Robert Gagn Learning Theorist Presentation

Trey Gibson Theresa Knott Amanda Silkett Amanda Smith

Robert M. Gagn

1916-2002

Biography and Background

Born 1916 in North Andover, Massachusetts After high school, Gagn received a scholarship to attend Yale University Gagn received a B.A. from Yale in 1937 After completing his undergraduate degree, Gagn went on to Brown University to begin his graduate study Gagn receive his Ph.D. in Psychology from Brown University in 1940

Biography and Background

Taught at Connecticut College for Women from 1940-1949 and Penn State University from 1945 to 1946 During this time he made initial preparations to study the learning of humans instead of rats Gagn drafted into the United States Army during WWII

Biography and Background

Gagn was ordered to report for duty to the Psychological Research Unit No. 1 at Maxwell Field, Alabama. Administered and scored aptitude tests to assist with selection and classification of aviation cadets for the crews of combat aircrafts Following this duty station, Gagn attended Officer Candidate School at Miami Beach. Gagn received a commission as a second lieutenant

Biography and Background

Gagn assigned to School of Aviation Medicine where he participated in the development, inspection, and technical description of psychomotor tests Later assigned to the Perceptual Film Research Unit and engaged in developing film tests of perceptual abilities Last assignment was to the Psychology Branch of the Aero Medical Laboratory where the study of human engineering was initiated

Biography and Background

Gagn returned to Connecticut College and began studies of learning and transfer of training in multi-discrimination motor tasks with grant from the Navy Special Devices Center In 1949, Gagn joined the Human Resources Research Center of the U.S. Air Force in the position of research director of the Perceptual and Motor Skills Laboratory Later became technical director of the Maintenance Laboratory at Lowry Air Force Base in Colorado

Biography and Background

1958 Gagn becomes a professor of psychology at Princeton University Research included studies of problem solving and the learning of mathematics skills then shifted toward the learning of school subjects Participated in the development of the elementary science program Science-A Process Approach Gagn conducted studies of intellectual skills and their prerequisites which led to the notion of Learning Hierarchy

Biography and Background

1962, Gagn joined the American Institutes for Research Engaged in research on training, assessment of human performance, education program evaluation, and other related questions The Conditions of Learning was written during this time Gagn accepted an appointment in educational psychology at the University of California, Berkeley where duties included educational research and studies of learning hierarchies and rule learning

Biography and Background

1969, joined the Department of Education Research at Florida State University Collaborated with L.J. Briggs in writing the Principles of Instructional Design as well as seeing two additional editions of The Conditions of Learning Participated in a visiting professorship at the Faculty of Education at Monash University where he collaborated in studies of rule learning and memory

Life Influences
Gagn served as director of the Air Force perceptual and motor skills laboratory.

This position helped Gagn study and understand motor skills through pilot testing. This led to advances in American education, military training, and industrial training.

Gagn was also influenced by positions he held such as consultant to the Department of Defense and to The United States Office of Education.

Impact on the study of human learning

Major Contributions to Instructional Development

co-developer of "Instructional Systems Design" wrote The Conditions of Learning, 1965 co-wrote Principles of Instructional Design, 1992 Co-wrote The conditions of learning: Training applications, 1996

Awards and Honors

1993 Thomas F. Gilbert Distinguished Professional Achievement Award

This award recognizes outstanding and significant contributions to the knowledge base of HPT (Human Performance Technology).

1982-1983 Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professors Award

This is the highest honor faculty can bestow on a colleague at Florida State University

1982 American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Award for the Applications of Psychology

Awarded to those who make the most distinguish empirical advancements in understanding important practical problems

Most important work

Although Gagn's earlier work reflected behaviorist thought, he is considered to be an experimental psychologist who was concerned with learning and instruction. In 1965, Gagn published The Conditions of Learning which outlined the relation of learning objectives to appropriate instructional designs.

What is learning?
Gagn believed that an external observer could recognize learning by noting behavioral changes that remains persistent over time (Gagn, 1974) He also stated that maturation is not learning because the individual does not receive stimulation from the outside environment (Gagn, 1974). Learning has two parts, one that is external to the learner and one that is internal (Gagn, Briggs, & Wager, 1992)

The Events of Learning

Gagn described learning as a series of 8 phases that the learner goes through but is unaware of (Gagn, 1974)

Motivation Phase Expectancy Apprehending Phase Attention Selective Perception Acquisition Phase Coding: Storage Entry Retention Phase Memory Storage Recall Phase Retrieval Generalization Phase Transfer Performance Phase Responding Feedback Phase -- Reinforcement

Principles of Learning
Contiguity

The stimulus situation must be presented simultaneously with the desired response.
Learning is improved with repetition and retention(the ability to remember things)

Repetition

Reinforcement(the act of making something stronger,

especially a feeling or idea)

Learning is strengthened when it is followed by a reward

(Gagn, Briggs, & Wager, 1992)

Five Categories of Learning

Gagn identifies five categories of learning:

Verbal Information Intellectual Skills Cognitive Strategies Attitudes Motor Skills

Verbal
Stating previously learned materials such as facts, concepts, principles, and procedures Critical Learning Conditions

Draw attention to distinctive features by variations in print or speech. Present information so that it can be made into chunks. Provide a meaningful context for effective encoding of information. Provide cues for effective recall and generalization of information.

Intellectual Skills
Discriminations: Distinguishing objects, features, or symbols,
e.g., hearing different pitches played on a musical instrument

Concrete Concepts: Identifying classes of concrete objects,

features, or events, e.g., picking out all the green M&Ms from the candy jar

Defined Concepts: classifying new examples of events or ideas

by their definition, e.g., noting "she sells sea shells" as alliteration

Rules: Applying a single relationship to solve a class of problems,

e.g., calculating the earned run averages (ERA) of the Atlanta Braves

Higher Order Rules: Applying a new combination of rules to

solve a complex problem, e.g., generating a balanced budget for a state organization

Intellectual Skills (cont.)

Critical Learning Conditions

Call attention to distinctive features. Stay within the limits of working memory. Stimulate the recall of previously learned component skills. Present verbal cues to the ordering or combination of component skills. Schedule occasions for practice and spaced review. Use a variety of contexts to promote transfer.

Cognitive Strategies
Employing personal ways to guide learning, thinking, acting, and feeling Critical Learning Conditions

Describe or demonstrate the strategy. Provide a variety of occasions for practice using the strategy. Provide informative feedback as to the creativity or originality of the strategy or outcome.

Attitude
Choosing personal actions based on internal states of understanding and feeling Critical Learning Conditions

Establish an expectancy of success associated with the desired attitude. Assure student identification with an admired human model. Arrange for communication or demonstration of choice of personal action. Give feedback for successful performance; or allow observation of feedback in the human model.

Motor Skills
Executing performances involving the use muscles Critical Learning Conditions

Present verbal or other guidance to cue the executive subroutine. Arrange repeated practice. Furnish immediate feedback as to the accuracy of performance. Encourage the use of mental practice.

Learning and the Teacher

Gagn felt that the teachers job was to provide instruction (Gagn, 1974). Gagn defined instruction as the set of events designed to initiate, activate, and support learning in the human learner. (Gagn, 1974) The teacher had three primary functions:

Designer Manager Evaluator

The Events of a Lesson

Gagn believed that all lessons should include these key points (Gagn, 1974)

Activating motivation
getting the learner interested

Informing the learner of the objective

this way the learner knows what is expected of him/her

Directing attention
focusing student on pertinent information

Stimulating recall
allows student to incorporate previously learned material

The Events of a Lesson continued

Providing learned guidance

includes hints, diagrams, etc.

Enhancing retention
adding an example

Promoting transfer of learning

Encouraging transfer to other fields of study

Eliciting the performance and providing feedback

Allow the student to show off what they have learned and provide feedback

Information-Processing Theory
Compares learning to a series of inputs and outputs similar to a computer (Gagn, 1974). The learning process is a set of arranged external events designed to promote an internal learning process (Gagn, Briggs, & Wager, 1992)

Gagnes Information Processing Theory

EXECUTIVE CONTROL E F F E C T O R S R E C E P T O R S EXPECTANCIES

E N V I R O N M E N T

RESPONSE GENERATOR

S E N S O R R E Y G I S T E R

LONG-TERM

SHORTTERM MEMORY

MEMORY

(Gagn, 1974, p.16) & (Gagn, Briggs, & Wager, 1992, p. 9)

References
Gagn, R. M., (1974). Essentials of learning instruction. Hinsdale, IL: The Dryden Press. Gagn, R. M., Briggs, L. J. & Wager, W. W. (1992). Principles of instructional design (4th ed.). New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers. Gagn, R. M., Medsker, K. L. (1996). The conditions of learning: Training applications. New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.

Electronic Sources
International Society for Performance Improvement (2005). Retrieved from http://www.ispi.org/. Explorations in learning & instruction: The theory into practice database (2005). Retrieved from http://tip.psychology.org/gagne.html. The Psi Caf. (2005). Retreived from http://www.psy.pdx.edu/PsiCafe/KeyTheorists/Gagn e.htm. The International Board of Standards for Training. (2005) Retrieved from http://www.ibstpi.org/legacy-gagne.