1. Gagne's 9 general steps of instruction for learning are:
1. Gain attention:
e.g. present a good problem, a new situation, use a multimedia advertisement, ask questions.
This helps to ground the lesson, and to motivate
2. Describe the goal:
e.g. state what students will be able to accomplish and how they will be able to use the knowledge, give a
demonstration if appropriate.
Allows students to frame information, i.e. treat it better.
3. Stimulate recall of prior knowledge
e.g. remind the student of prior knowledge relevant to the current lesson (facts, rules, procedures or skills). Show
how knowledge is connected, provide the student with a framework that helps learning and remembering. Tests
can be included.
4. Present the material to be learned
e.g. text, graphics, simulations, figures, pictures, sound, etc. Chunk information (avoid memory overload, recall
information).
5. Provide guidance for learning
e.g. presentation of content is different from instructions on how to learn. Use of different channel (e.g. side-boxes)
6. Elicit performance "practice"
let the learner do something with the newly acquired behavior, practice skills or apply knowledge. At least use
MCQ's.
7. Provide informative feedback ,
show correctness of the trainee's response, analyze learner's behavior, maybe present a good (step-by-step)
solution of the problem
8. Assess performance test, if the lesson has been learned. Also give sometimes general progress information
9. Enhance retention and transfer :
e.g. inform the learner about similar problem situations, provide additional practice. Put the learner in a transfer
situation. Maybe let the learner review the lesson.
“ The way Gagne's theory is put into practice is as follows. First of all, the instructor determines the objectives of the
instruction. These objectives must then be categorized into one of the five domains of learning outcomes. Each of the
objectives must be stated in performance terms using one of the standard verbs (i.e. states, discriminates, classifies, etc.)
associated with the particular learning outcome. The instructor then uses the conditions of learning for the particular learning
outcome to determine the conditions necessary for learning. And finally, the events of instruction necessary to promote the
internal process of learning are chosen and put into the lesson plan. The events in essence become the framework for the
lesson plan or steps of instruction.” (Corry, 1996)
2. T h e N i n e S t e p s
1. Gain at tention: Present a story, problem, or a new si tuat ion that wi l l grab the learners' at tent ion. This can be
thought of as a interest device or teaser, such as the short segment of ten shown in a TV program right before
the opening credi ts that keeps you watching the program. The ideal is to grab the learners' at tent ion so that they
wi l l become involved in the learning process. You can use such interest devices as:
o Storytelling
o Demonstrations
o Presenting a problem to be solved
o Stressing why it is important to them
Wick, Pol lock, Jef ferson, and Flanagan (2006) describe how the research also supports extending the interest
device into the workplace in order to increase performance when the learners apply thei r new ski l ls to the job.
This is accompl ished by having the learners and thei r managers discuss what they need to learn and be able to
perform when they f inish the t raining. This preclass act ivi ty ends in a mutual cont ract between the learners and
managers on what is expected to be achieved f rom the learning process (this is also closely related to the next
step).
2. P rovide a Learning Object ive: This al lows the learners to organize thei r thoughts on what they wi l l learn and
to perform. There is an old saying among presentat ion professionals to tel l them what you're going to tel l them,
tel l them, and f inal ly tel l ing them what you told them. This also works when learning by c ueing the learner into
the goals of the inst ruct ion, what the learners wi l l be able perform, and how they wi l l be able to use thei r new
ski l ls in the workplace.
Of course the problem that some inst ructors run into is tel l ing the learners the formal Learning Object ives word
for word, rather than breaking i t down into a less formal statement . Learning Object ives are normal ly designed
for the inst ruct ional designers and t rainers, rather than the learners, thus they must be t ransformed into a more
causal language.
Marzano (1998, p.94) reported an ef fect size of 0.97 (which indicates that achievement can be raised by 34
percent i le points) when goal speci f icat ion is used. When students have some cont rol over the learning
outcomes, there is an ef fect size of 1.21 (39 percent i le points).
3. St imulate recall of prior knowledge: This al lows the learners to use two important learning processes:
o Ret rieval Practice: Retrieval enhances learning by retrieval-specific mechanisms rather than by elaborative study
processes and is an effective tool to promote conceptual learning (Butler, 2010; Karpicke, Janell, 2011) .
o Scaffolding is building upon the learners' previous knowledge and skills.
3. Taking pract ice tests al lows learners to ret rieve and then reconst ruct thei r knowledge. Remembering informat ion
we are organizing al lows us to create cues and connect ions that our brains later recognize.
S c af folding is the support that a ski l led performer gives her apprent ices in carrying out a task (Col l ins, Brown,
Holum, 1991). It is accompl ished by bui lding upon the student 's prior learning. The basic steps
of scaf folding includes 1) slowly bui ld on what the learners know, 2) add more detai ls and informat ion over a
period of t ime, and then 3) al lowing the learners to perform on thei r own. Af ter this, thefading process begins —
slowly removing the support in order to give the learners more responsibi l i ty.
In addi t ion, part of st imulat ing recal l is having the learners take notes and drawing mind maps. Learning is
enhanced by encouraging the use of graphic representat ions when taking notes (mind or concept maps). Whi le
normal note-taking has an overal l ef fect size of .99, indicat ing a percent i le gain of 34 points, graphic
representat ions (mind map) produce a percent i le gain in achievement of 39 points (Marzano, 1998). One of the
most ef fec t ive of these techniques is semant ic mapping or concept mapping. Wi th this technique, the learner
represents the key ideas in a lesson by drawing nodes (ci rcles) wi th spokes depict ing key detai ls emanat ing
f rom the node. Having the learners draw a semant ic map produces an ef fect size of 1.48 (n=1), indicat ing a
percent i le gain of 43 points (Toms -Bronowski , 1982).
4. P resent the material : Chunk the informat ion to avoid cogni t ive overload. Blend the informat ion to aid in
informat ion recal l . This is di rect ly related to Skinner's sequenced learning events by al lowing the learners to
receive feedback on individual ized tasks, thereby correct ing isolated problems rather than having l i t t le idea of
where the root of the learning chal lenge l ies. Bloom's Taxonomy andLearning St rategies can be used to help
sequence the lesson by helping you chunk them into levels of di f f icul ty.
5. P rovide guidance for learning: Provide coaching on how to learn the ski l l . The rate of learning increases
because learners are less l ikely to lose t ime and become f rust rated by pract icing t he wrong way or having poorly
understood concepts. Coaching the learners to learn -to-learn also has the benef i t of helping them to gain
metacogni t ive ski l ls that wi l l aid them wi th future performance ini t iat ives.
6. El icit performance: Pract ice by let t ing the learner do something wi th the newly acqui red behavior, ski l ls, or
knowledge.
In addi t ion, demonst rate as requi red (model ing). Albert Bandura (1997) noted that observat ion learning may or
may not involve imi tat ion. For example i f you see someone driving in f ront of you hi t a pothole, and then you
swerve to miss i t then you learned f rom observat ional learning, not imi tat ion (i f you learned f rom imi tat ion then
you would also hi t the pothole). What you learned was the informat ion you processed cogni t ively and then acted
upon. Observat ional learning is much more complex than simple imi t at ion. Bandura's theory is of ten referred to
as social learning theory as i t emphasizes the role of vicarious experience (observat ion) of people impact ing
people (models). Model ing has several af fects on learners:
4. o Acquisition - New responses are learned by observing the model.
o Inhibition - A response that otherwise may be made is changed when the observer sees a model being punished.
o Disinhibition - A reduction in fear by observing a model's behavior go unpunished in a feared activity.
o Facilitation - A model elicits from an observer a response that has already been learned.
o Creativity - Observing several models performing and then adapting a combination of characteristics or styles.
7. P rovide feedback: This can be a test , quiz, or verbal comments. The feedback needs t o be s pec i f i c , not , “y ou
are doi ng a good j ob. ” T el l t hem why t hey are doi ng a good j ob and/ or prov i de s pec i f i c gui danc e.
8. Assess performance: Test to determine i f the lesson has been learned and provide general progress
informat ion.
9. E nhance retent ion and t ransfer : Inform the learner about simi lar problem si tuat ions, provide addi t ional
pract ice, put the learner in a t ransfer si tuat ion, review the lesson.
