Cumulative Learning Theory

By Robert M. Gagné

•PhD in Psychology – Brown University (1940)•Professor, Connecticut College (1940-49)•Professor, Penn State University (1945-46)•Director, US Air Force Perceptual and Motor Skills Laboratory (1949-58)•Professor, Dept of Education Research, Florida State University (1969-2002)•Conditions of Learning (1965-1985)

• Gagne is considered to be an experimental psychologist who is concerned with learning and instruction.• He’s known for the skills hierarchy which present simple skills and builds to complex ones• His learning theory is summarized as The Gagne Assumption which consists of five types of learning and nine events of instruction.

•Well known for theory of conditional learning•Consist of 3 distinct component :Taxonomy of learning outcomes - learning domain

Specific learning condition - Hierarchy of Learning

9 instructional events

•Refers to a set of component skills that must be learned before the complex skill of which they are a part can be learned •Classifying different types of learning in term of the Degree of Complexity of the mental involved.•Higher orders of learning build upon the lower levels.•The lowest 4 orders tend to focus on the more behavioural aspects.•The highest 4 focus on the more cognitive aspects

Hierarchy of Learning

Signal Learning•Learn how to respond to a signal,like Pavlov’s classical conditioned response•Usually the response is emotional

Stimulus(S) – Response(R) Learning• Learn precise response to precise signal /

stimulus•Different from signal learning, signal learning

leads to involuntary responses, whereas the responses in S-R learning are voluntarily controlled.

Psychomotor Connection Learning•Occurs when a chain of stimuli and

responses are formed•Lean to to follow procedures •Able to chain 2 or more stimulus-response

Verbal Association Learning•Use terminology in verbal chains

Multiple Discrimination Learning•Learn how to distinguish between similar

stimuli•Make different responses to each type of

stimulus, even when they may be perceptually similar.

Concept Learning•Singular / common response to an entire

class of stimuli

Principle Learning• Viewed as a chain of two or more

concepts. • Learn to apply rules

Problem Solving• Highest learning type which lead to the

discovery of higher order rules• All other types of learning must have

been completed for it to be present.

Nine Instructional Events

Gain Attention•Use an “interest device” that grabs learner’s attention

Inform Learner of Objective•Initiates the internal process of expectancy and helps motivate the learner to complete the lesson

Stimulate Recall Prior KnowledgeAssociating new information with prior

knowledge / experiences can facilitate the learning process

Present The Material•New content is actually presented to the

learner.• Content should be chunked and organized

meaningfully, and typically is explained and then demonstrated.

Provide Guidance For Learning•To help learners encode information for long-

term storage, additional guidance should be provided along with the presentation of new content

Elicit Performance•Practice by letting the learner do something

with the newly acquired behavior, skills, or knowledge

Provide Feedback•Show correctness of the learner's response,

analyze learner's behavior.

Assess Performance•Test / assessment to determine if the lesson

has been learned.

Enhance Retention & TransferInform the learner about similar problem

situations, provide additional practice, put the learner in a transfer situation, review the lesson.

•When the Events of Instruction occur, internal learning processes take place that lead to various learning outcomes. (Campos, 1999)•The Events of Instruction constitute a set of communications to the student, which have the aim of aiding the learning process.•Instruction consists of a set of events external to the learner designed to support the internal processes of learning. (Gagne, Briggs, & Wager, 1988)•This theory outlines nine instructional events and their corresponding processes.

Five categories of learning

Verbal Informatio

n

Intellectual Skills

Motor SkillsAttitudes

Cognitive Strategies

• Development of information using language

Verbal Informatio

n

• Ability to interact with surroundings using concept symbols

Intellectual Skills

• Ability to control the individual’s behaviour to learn, remember & think.

Cognitive Strategie

s

• Manipulative skills & carrying out routine work.

Motor Skills

• Change of attitude towards an object, another person, situation at change in effective domain

Attitudes