WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT UNIT 2

PERSPECTIVES ON LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

UNIVERSITY OF THE PEOPLE

EDUC 5210 – LEARNING THEORY

DR. STEPHEN KING

JULY 1, 2021

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 GAGNE’S NINE EVENTS OF INSTRUCTION

Robert Gagne was an American educational psychologist who well-known for his nine

events of learning instruction. Gagne’s nine events of instruction is a framework for an effective

learning process that helps teachers develop strategies and create activities for instructional

classes (The peak performance center, n.d.). Each event focuses on a form of communication that

encourages the learning process. This paper examines Gagne’s nine events of instruction and the

correlation with the behaviorist and cognitive approach:

1. Gain attention of students

Getting students’ attention at the beginning of the learning session is essential to assure

students' readiness to learn and participate in upcoming activities. Teachers can use techniques

such as stimulating students with novelty, uncertainty, and surprise, posing thought-provoking

questions to students, or leading an ice breaker activity (Northern Illinois University Center,

2020). This event illustrates the philosophy of the behaviorist approach. According to Law of

Readiness, students are ready to learn, then behaviors that foster learning will be rewarding

for them Thorndike (1913). In English class, teachers open the learning session by playing

“would you rather”.

2. Inform students of the objectives.

Informing students of the learning goals help students to understand the purpose of what

they will be learning. Besides, it also can motivate students to finish the entire course or

lesson. Teachers include the learning objectives in the introductory course material, module

pages, slides, and instructions of every activity, project, or paper. This event follows a

cognitive approach because learning will go from general to specific, which teachers select

topics or material that teachers want to know (Lumen, n.d.).

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3. Stimulate recall of prior learning

In obtaining the new knowledge, it is crucial to bridge students with their existing

knowledge and the subject matter to avoid misconception because they will build an

understanding based on their interpretation, belief, and experience. As an illustration, in

English class, learning modals for probation begun with a warming-up activity such as

displaying some pictures of prohibited actions in various situations then asking students to

match the actions with the corresponding location. It represents a cognitive approach in which

recalling prior learning is obtained through processing information from past experience

(McLeod, 2018).

4. Present the content

This event is the time for teachers to present new lessons to students. It emphasizes

delivering the content by applying appropriate strategies to engage students with learning

activities such as presenting the material in different formats, lectures, videos, live

demonstrations, experiments, group work, etc. For example, to teach about community

helpers to kindergarten students virtually, teachers use colorful slides, clipart pictures, and

animated videos. Then, students participate in several activities such as reading aloud,

speaking practice, and making DIY craft. In addition, the cognitive approach is aligned with

this event as the teacher monitors how well the students are acquiring, processing, and storing

the information presented to them.

5. Provide learning guidance

Teachers ensure that students can achieve learning targets. Therefore teachers’ guidance

and support become essential to help students to understand the content. It can be in form of

advise and giving examples. This event can be both cognitive and behavior-driven, as the

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 teacher checks for understanding and redirects the condition if necessary. Teachers can bring

on a recent social phenomenon as a case study to learn about social interaction in the

classroom.

6. Elicit performance (practice)

Eliciting performance refers to providing activities for students to practice the content

they have just learned while still in the classroom. The peak performance center (n.d.) states

that practicing proves students understanding of the concept and its application. Like the

previous event, this can be seen as both cognitive and behavioral. The teacher is now seeing

how well the students are storing information and reinforcing the wanted classroom skills. In

cooking class, making a cake according to the recipe is a form of practice that requires

students to apply cooking techniques that they have learned.

7. Provide feedback

Feedback is inseparable from the learning process because it is an assessment to measure

students learning improvement. It helps students to perform better and prevents them from

failure. In addition, the given feedback must be positive and objective. For example, teachers

appraise students when they almost finish school projects by commenting, “Wow, it is such

terrific work! This takes a behaviorist approach as the teacher is redirecting unwanted

behavior and reinforcing what is positive.

8. Assess performance

The event refers to “assess student learning and academic achievement at the end of a

lesson, term, year or semester by comparing it against a universal standard or school

benchmark” (Promethean, 2017, para. 3). Teachers grade based on criteria and evaluate

students' abilities and understanding. It can be in the form of a written test, quiz, presentation,

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 or essay. It uses a cognitive approach because teachers check for students' understanding and

application.

9. Enhance retention and transfer

As the final event, retention gives opportunities to students to apply the knowledge or

skill they have just learned to the real-world application. It aligns with a cognitive approach as

teachers focus on the stored information and its application to the real world. Making a

summarization of a unit or chapter students have finished is one method of applied retention.

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 REFERENCES

Lumen. (n.d.). Learning objectives. Retrieved June 30, 2021, from

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/edpsy/chapter/learning-objectives/

McLeod, Saul. (2018). Jean Piaget's Theory of Cognitive Development. Simple Psychology.
https://www.simplypsychology.org/simplypsychology.org-Jean-Piaget.pdf

Northern Illinois University Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning. (2020). Gagné’s nine

events of instruction. In Instructional guide for university faculty and teaching

assistants. Retrieved from https://www.niu.edu/citl/resources/guides/instructional-

guide

The peak performance center. (n.d.) Gagne’s nine events of instruction. Retrieved June 30,

2021, from https://thepeakperformancecenter.com/business/learning/business-

training/gagnes-nine-events-instruction/

Promethean. (2017). Types of summative assessment and formative assessment. ResourceD.

https://resourced.prometheanworld.com/types-of-summative-formative-assessment/