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Robert Gagné’s Nine Events of Instruction – An Analysis

University of the People

EDUC 5210: Learning Theories and Implication for Instruction

Dr. Michelle Sorrells , Instructor

September 14th, 2021

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Introduction

Gagné defined his 9 Events of Instruction as, “A set of events external to the learner

which are designed to support the internal processes of learning” (Gagné and Dick, 1983). The

9 events are based on the information processing theories of learning and combine external

instruction with internal learning process and memory (Colorado State University, 2015). In

other words, his nine events include aspects of both behaviorism and cognitive psychology and

in order to best illustrate this, it is crucial to understand what behaviorism and cognitive

psychology detail. Behaviorism or behavioral learning theory can be defined as concept

that focuses on how students learn. This learning theory states that behaviors are learned from

the environment, and says that innate or inherited factors have very little influence on behavior.

A common example of behaviorism is positive reinforcement (Western Governors University,

2020). Cognitive psychology on the other hand involves the study of internal mental

processes—all of the things that go on inside your brain, including perception, thinking,

memory, attention, language, problem-solving, and learning.

1. Gain attention of the student: Sometimes when students enter the classroom, they are

distracted by everything that is going on around them and it is important to grab their

attention and get them to focus on the topic on hand. This can be achieved by posing a

thought-provoking question to them or starting with an ice-breaking activity as their

performance improves with attention (Gagne’s nine events of instruction n.d.) Hence

this event can be classified as a cognitive approach. For example, if the main theme of

the lesson is ‘Experiences’ a classroom strategy that I would use to grab their attention

would be to get their thoughts and reactions to the thought-provoking question “How

would travelling or living in another culture affect my worldview?” This immediately

makes them think and respond and listen to what their classmates have to say.
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2. Inform students of the objectives: this event helps students to organize their thoughts,

create goals and focus on the details of what they have to achieve. I would classify this

even as a behavioral approach as it uses objectives as a form of using positive

reinforcements to enable the learning of the student. To continue with the example of

the Unit on ‘Experiences’, the classroom practice that would illustrate the event would

be to inform the students that the objectives of this particular unit would be to learn to

write blogs, based on travel or personal experiences.

3. Stimulate recall of prior knowledge: Comparing and contrasting the existing knowledge

helps to encode new information as it connects the new information with prior existing

data stored in the memory. This is a cognitive approach that uses information

processing and encoding (Robert Gagne's nine events of instruction, n.d.). The

classroom strategy that I would use would be to ask the students to create a mind map

with the word ‘Experiences’ in the center and vocabulary that they have used in the past

lessons that can be used in relation to this theme.

4. Present the material: It is important to present the content in a manner in which it is

easy for the student to understand and store the new information. This event involves a

cognitive approach that focuses on the student’s ability to organize experiences into

categories. For example, a classroom strategy with regards to my unit on ‘Experiences’

would be to use a combination of lectures, hands on activities, videos, listening

activities to stimulate my own students.

5. Provide Guidance: This event is all about guiding the students in the right direction so

that they can achieve their objectives stated at the beginning of the unit plan. This is a

behavioral approach as it uses experience and the environment to promote learning. A

classroom strategy would be to use examples and non-examples of blogs (since this is

their objective) that student can look an emulate when creating their own blog about
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their experience. I give them examples of blogs written by experts and blogs written by

beginners so they can see the differences and figure out for themselves what they should

and should not do.

6. Elicit performance: Now that the students understand what they have to do and what

their objectives are it is time to give them tasks through which they can demonstrate

their newly acquired skill or knowledge. In this event the student learns to internalize

the knowledge or skilled he has learnt and ensure correct application and understanding

of this knowledge. Hence, I would categorize it as a cognitive approach. As an example

of a classroom strategy that I would use, I would ask them to write their own blog based

on their travel or personal experience and this written assignment would be formatively

assessed.

7. Providing Feedback: This event provides reinforcement to the student as it allows them

to gauge whether they have correctly understood the new task, skill/knowledge or not.

Since it can involve positive or negative reinforcements, I would classify this event as

a behavior approach. In my case the class room example will be to assess and ensure

whether the blog that the students have written follows the correct format, have they

appealed to their audience, made the subject matter interesting, used appropriate

vocabulary etc. They can look at their work and understand any gaps that have been

missing and alter their learning accordingly.

8. Assess Performance: At this stage they have received feedback and fully understand

what they have to do with regards to the new skill/knowledge that they have gained and

now it is time to cumulatively evaluate their learning outcomes with a test or an exam

which gets graded. This would again be a form of positive reinforcement and therefore

I would classify it as a behavior approach. For example, in the case of my students they

will write an exam where they will be required to use blogs as a text type to express the
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effects of their experiences. The grades they receive will go into their quarter report so

they would have to be serious on how well they exhibit their skill/knowledge.

9. Enhance retention and transfer: At this stage the students are expected to transfer their

newly gained skill/knowledge into the real world. This is a cognitive approach as they

will use everything they have learned and retained from the classroom and apply it into

actuality. In my classroom example after thoroughly learning all about blogs and

writing them they will go ahead on the internet and create their own blog post on a topic

of their choice. It need not necessarily be about experiences, it could be a blog about

any topic of their choice, cooking, baking, gaming, environment issues, etc. they will

use the format that they have become familiar with and experiment it with different

topics. In this manner the learning process has come full circle.

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References

Colorado State University Masters Program. (2005). Portrait of a Theorist - Robert Mills

Gagné. Retrieved on 14th of September, 2021 from,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgDcUnObLqI

Gagne’s nine events of instruction. (n.d.). Northern Illinois University, Center for Innovative

Teaching and Learning. Retrieved on 14th of September, 2021

from, https://www.niu.edu/citl/resources/guides/instructional-guide/gagnes-nine-

events-of-instruction.shtml

Gagné, R. M., & Dick, W. (1983). Instructional psychology. Annual Review of Psychology.

Retrieved on 14th of September, 2021

from, https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.ps.34.020183.001401

Robert Gagne's nine events of instruction. (n.d.). Berkeley lab training. Retrieved on 14th of

September, 2021 from, http://training.lbl.gov/Resources/NineSteps.html

Western Governors University. (2020). Teaching and Education. What is behavioral learning

Theory? Retrieved on 14th of September, 2021 from https://www.wgu.edu/blog/what-

behavioral-learning-theory2005.html