Basics

Basics Robert Gagne was an experimental psychologist who was concerned with learning and instruction for several decades. His earlier work was in a behaviorist tradition, but later he was influenced by the information-processing view of learning and memory. He is well known for his synthesis of research on learning and the identification of internal and external conditions of learning. Gagne stressed that different variables influence the learning of different types of tasks. He identified five domains of learning outcomes:

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information intellectual skills cognitive strategies motor skills attitudes

Based upon his analysis of research, he believed that the set of variables influencing the learning of tasks in one domain may not influence the learning of tasks in other domains. One may generalize research findings to other tasks within that domain, but not to tasks in other domains. Thus, factors found to influence the learning of one piece of information (e.g., overlearning positively affects the learning of telephone numbers) may be applied to other tasks in that domain (e.g., the learning of names), but not to the tasks in other domains (e.g., the learning of a new concept). Gagne stressed the cumulative nature of learning intellectual skills in which mastery of higher-level skills (e.g., rules) depends primarily upon the prior mastery of lower-order skills or concepts. Accordingly, intellectual skills are arranged in a hierarchical order so that successful instruction begins with teaching lower-order skills and progresses upwards. Gagne placed considerable influence on identifying the appropriate sequence of instructional events that promote successful learning. In essence, manipulation of these events (gain attention, inform learner of objectives, provide guidance, etc.), when coupled with the appropriate external conditions of learning, can stimulate the presumed internal process in short- and long-term memory and cause learning to occur. Gagne’s ideas about instruction are based to a large extent upon the information processing approach and the presumed internal processes of learning and his distinctions among domains of learning outcomes.

View of Learning Here is a comprehensive set of objectives for Gagne along with points based on these objectives:

1. Define and give examples of the five domains of learning outcomes.

Domain

Definition

Example

Verbal Information

Stating facts, names, labels, or describing organized bodies of knowledge

Naming the three branches of government; describing the rules of a card game; explaining Freud's theories; listing causes of inflation

Intellectual Skills

Using discriminations, concepts, and rules to solve problems

Distinguishing between different stimuli like recognizing that two musical notes are different, identifying things that belong in the same category like different types of virus; applying a rule to determine something like calculating the distance it will take a car to stop; solving a problem that is new for you such as determining how much paint it will take to paint the exterior of your house

Motor Skills

Executing body movements in coordinated fashion

Playing catch with a baseball; writing your name with a pen; assembling a swing set

Attitude

Choices we make to behave in certain ways

Choosing to follow proper etiquette when having dinner with new acquaintances; showing regard for a sick co-worker by offering to help them get their work done; being open to new ideas by allowing someone to express his suggestion fro accomplishing a work task when it differs from your suggestion

Cognitive Strategy

Using ways to control one's thinking and learning processes

Determining how to approach a new learning situation; deciding how to go about learning a long list of items; creating a way to remember the names of several people you just met

2. For each domain, describe the relevant conditions of learning.

Domain

Conditions

Verbal Information

1. provide a meaningful context 2. provide opportunity for practice storing and retrieving information in memory 3. stress relationships among content to be learned 4. provide additional practice over time

Intellectual Skills

1. recall of specific prerequisite intellectual skills

Motor Skills

1. observation of a model performing skill in a correct manner 2. opportunity to practice performing the skill 3. receiving feedback on your performance that shows you what to change and how

Attitude

1. observation of a model who shows the desired choice and is reinforced as a result 2. making the desired choice and receiving direct reinforcement as a result

Cognitive Strategy

1. provide opportunities to work with novel problems 2. have students monitor their cognition 3. allow students to observe expert problem solvers at work

3. Describe the information processing view of the act of learning (process) and what is happening in each of the three memory structures. In the information processing view of learning a stimulus impacts of learners senses and is brought into his brain first into this sensory register. There are sensory registers for difference senses such as a visual sensory register that accepts input from the eyes and an acoustic sensory register that accepts input from the ears. The information in the sensory register is an exact copy of what impinges our sense organs and that information resides in the sensory register for a fraction of a second before being lost. If we attend to the information in our sensory registers while it is there we can transfer some of that information into our short-term memory thus preventing it from being loss or forgotten. Short-term memory is our conscious memory in which we process information. Short-term memory is constrained in size in that we can maintain approximately 7 pieces of information in short-term memory at one time. Fortunately we can overcome some of the size limitation by grouping pieces of information together to form a larger piece that will still occupy only one of our slots in short-term memory. In general, information remains in short-term memory for about 30 seconds before it disappears. We can, however, Keep this information alive in short-term memory for a longer period of time by reintroducing or rehearsing this information. In essence, we can restart the 30-second clock by repeating these the information in short-term memory. The information that we organize and keep holding in short-term memory for longer than 30 seconds has a chance of being transferred into long-term memory especially when we can relate this new information to information that already exists in our long-term memory. Long-term memory is considered to be vast, almost unlimited in size, and permanent. For learning to be effective we need to pay attention to the external stimuli and bring these into our sensory registers, transfer that into short-term memory where the new information is organized and meaning is derrived and then organizing the new information and storing it in our long-term memories where it should reside for a long time. This is a process of information storage. The other side of this is an equally important process called information retrieval. This is where we go into our long-term memories searching for something that is stored there, pull it back out into our short-term memories and then use it to help solve a problem or make meaning of a new situation. This is a complete cycle in the information processing view of learning. 5. Define sensory register, short-term memory, long-term memory, rehearsal, chunking, encoding, storage, and retrieval. These are all terms associated with the information processing view of learning that Gagne used as basis for much of his work. The sensory register, short-term memory, and long-term memory are the three structures to human memory. The sensory register holds the direct input from the senses

for a brief period time, milliseconds, before it is lost. The information resides in the sensory register in the same form as the senses. That is, information that comes from our eyes is stored in the visual sensory register as an image, information coming from the ears is stored in an acoustic sensory register as sounds. This century registers are considered to be vast and hold more or less exact copies of the stimuli our senses detect but only for a very brief period time before they disappear unless they're transferred to short-term memory. Short-term memory is I working memory that holds about seven pieces of information for about 30 seconds. This gives us the opportunity to process that information comparing and contrasting it with other information that resides in a long-term memory and deriving meaning from it. From short-term memory the information that we focus on and manipulate can be transferred to long-term memory where it is stored permanently in a vast network of knowledge apparently unlimited in size. We can use several processes in short-term memory to help improve the chance we will remember something. We can repeat a piece of information to ourselves thus rehearsing it or restarting the 30-second clock to keep that piece of information alive for a longer period of time in our short-term memories. We can group the new piece of information with other pieces of information to form meaningful chunks for storage in long-term memory that will make it easier for us to get back to that information because it will be more meaningful. Think about chunking in shortterm memory as a process of sorting and grouping information together to form meaningful relationships that are then stored in long-term memory. Encoding is a process that happens in short-term memory where we are taking the essence or meaning of the stimulus that comes from the sensory register and dealing with that rather than with the physical form of the stimulus. As noted earlier, storage is a process of bringing in a stimulus and placing it in long-term memory while retrieval is a process of going back into long-term memory locating a piece of information and bringing it back into short-term memory or conscious thought. 6. Describe the proper sequencing of events of learning and the rationale for the sequencing. As part of his theory Gagne built upon the information processing model by considering what must happen externally to the learner to facilitate this internal processing of information that goes on during learning. That is, what can a teacher do to facilitate a student learning new content based on the information processing model of learning. January identified nine separate things which he called the events of learning that should happen to optimally facilitate a students internal processing of information. These nine Events of Learning are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Gain Learners’ Attention Inform Learners of Objectives Stimulate Recall of Prerequisites Present Stimulus for Learning Provide Prompts & Guidance Provide for Practice Provide Feedback Assess the Performance Promote Transfer & Retention

These Events of Instruction are sequenced in this order because each event impacts the internal processing of information as we attend to input from our senses, move information into the sensory register, and then into short-term memory where it is encoded, stored in long-term memory, and finally retrieved or brought from long-term memory back to short-term. 7. Describe the subcategories of intellectual skills, provide examples of each, and describe the relationship among the various subcategories. Intellectual skills are the domain of learning the Gagne placed the most emphasis on in his own work. He thought that mastery of intellectual skills was fundamental to education and much more important than learning specific information. There are several subcategories of intellectual skills organize from simple skills to more complex skills. The ability to master the more complex skills is a direct result of having already mastered the specific prerequisite lower-level or simpler skills. Think of intellectual skills as arranged in a hierarchy with the most complex skills at the top.

Intellectual Skill

Example

Problem Solving

Encountering a new situation in which you have to decide which rules to apply and in what combination and sequence to resolve a novel problem. Determining how to reduce your company's energy consumption by 15% next year; figuring out how to raise additional funds for a charity; determining how much an addition to your home will cost

Rule Learning

Applying a rule, a principle or formula to resolve a situation. Calculating how many miles per galleon a car got; determining how much change a customer gets from a $8.25 purchase when he gave you a $10 bill; determining the impact of a 5% increase in mortgage rates on home ownership

Defined Concepts

Grouping objects based on a classifying rule. Identifying a country that freely elected its leaders by popular vote as a democracy; classifying a period of time in which real wages and prices for goods and services rise as inflationary

Concrete Concept

Grouping objects based on physical characteristics. Sorting different tree leaves into groups based on their species; identifying different skin rashes according to the type of rash; classifying different birds into their types

Discriminations

Telling that two or more stimuli are different. Distinguishing between two different heart sounds or recognizing that two fish are not the same

8. Describe what is meant by prerequisite knowledge. In the domain of intellectual skills prerequisite knowledge is that knowledge that is essential to have in order to master subsequent higher order learning. Prerequisite knowledge is the building block for higher level learning. In order to solve a specific problem the person must first have mastered a set of related rules that can be combined to generate the solution to that problem. These rules that learning builds upon form the prerequisite knowledge for problem-solving. 9. Define learning hierarchy, provide an example of one, and indicate why it exists only in the domain of intellectual skills. A learning hierarchy exists only in the domain of intellectual skills and refers to the structure of these skills from simple, prerequisite skills to more complex skills. This can be represented visually in a form that resembles an organizational chart with problem solving at the top and rules below that followed by concepts below that and discrimination below that. Going from the bottom to the top in the learning hierarchy shows that person first has to learn discriminations before you can learn concepts because concepts depend on discriminating certain characteristics to identify or classify objects into categories. Continuing up the hierarchy concepts must be learned before one can acquire rules because rules describe the relationships among

concepts. Before one can learn to apply the rule that the area of a triangle equals 1/3 its height times its base that person much already know the concepts of triangle, area, height and base. 10. Define cumulative learning. Cumulative learning is a term that can be used to describe Gagne's work with intellectual skills because of the way new skills build on previously learned skills. Learning is a process of accumulating a large set of intellectual skills. 11. Distinguish between learning structures and learning processes. Within the context of the information processing model, the learning structures refer to the three memory structures: sensory register, short-term memory, and long-term memory. Learning processes referred to those specific processes that happen within these memory structures. For instance, rehearsal and encoding are examples of learning processes that happen within short-term memory.

Status Gagne has had considerable influence on education and training in corporate and government sectors as well as some influence in public schools. A clear contribution of Gagne was the field of instructional design that seeks to take what is known about human learning and apply it to instruction. He is generally regarded as the "father" of instructional design. He had wide influence on people who follow a systematic approach to designing instruction. Two contributions of Gagne stand out: his ideas about domains of learning and his concept of instructional events. Educators widely agree that we can't teach all content the identical way. We recognize that teaching students how to solve problems or use concepts is different from teaching information. This follows directly from Gagne's domains of learning. Many educators also develop their teaching plans around Gagne's instructional events by starting lessons by gaining the learners' attention, informing them of the objectives and continuing through practice and assessment. This is pure Gagne! Gagne is recognized among educators for his accomplishments and his influences. He holds a lofty status in the field of instructional design. Many, if not most, corporate training programs are based on his work.

ROBERT GAGNE’S THEORY OF LEARNING

Diposkan oleh Yurizka.Melia | Label: Psikologi Pendidikan 23Jan 2012

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The psychologist Robert M. Gagne has done the research into the phases of learning sequence and the types of learning. His research is particularly relevant for teaching mathematics. Professor Gagne has used mathematics as a medium for testing and applying his theories about learning and has collaborated with the University of Maryland Mathematics Project in studies of mathematics learning and curriculum development. The Objects of Mathematics Learning There are two objects of mathematics learning. They are direct and indirect things which we want students to learn in mathematics. The direct objects of mathematics learning are facts, skills, concepts, and principles. Some of the many indirect objects are transfer of learning, inquiry ability, problem-solving ability, self-discipline, and appreciation for the structure of mathematics. The direct objects of mathematics learning - facts, skills, concepts, and principles - are the four categories which mathematical content can be separated. Below are the descriptions of each direct object of mathematics learning. Mathematical Facts Mathematical facts are those arbitrary conventions in mathematics such as the symbols of mathematics. It is a fact that 2 is the symbol for the word two, that + is the symbol for the operation of addition, and that sine is the name given to a special function in trigonometry. Facts are learned through various techniques of rote learning such as memorization, drill, practice, timed tests, games, and contests. People are considered to have learned a fact when they can state the fact and make appropriate use of it in a number of different situations. Mathematical Skills Mathematical skills are those operations and procedures which students and mathematicians are expected to carry out with speed and accuracy. Many skills can be specified by sets of rules and instructions or by ordered sequences of specific procedures called algorithms. Among the mathematical skills which most people are expected to master in school are long division, addition of fractions and multiplication of decimal fractions. Constructing right angles, bisecting angles, and finding unions or intersections of sets of objects and events are examples of other useful mathematical skills. Skills are learned through demonstrations and various types of drill and practice such as worksheets, work at the chalkboard, group activities and games. Students have mastered a skill when they can correctly demonstrate the skill by solving different types of problems requiring the skill or by applying the skill in various situations. Mathematical Concepts

A concept in mathematics is an abstract idea which enables people to classify objects or events and to specify whether the objects and events are examples or non-examples of the abstract idea. In this, the examples of concepts are sets, subsets, equality, inequality, triangle, cube, radius, and exponent. A person who has learned the concept of triangle is able to classify sets of figures into subsets of triangles and non-triangles. Concepts can be learned either through definitions or by direct observation. 4. Mathematical Principles The most complex of the mathematical objects are principles. Principles are sequences of concepts together with relationships among these concepts. The following statements are the examples of principles.  The square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides.  Two triangles are congruent if two sides and the included angle of one triangle are equal to two sides and the included angle of the other. Principles can be learned through processes of scientific inquiry, guided discovery lessons, group discussions, the use of problem solving strategies, and demonstrations. A student has learned principles when he or she can identify the concepts included in the principle, put the concepts in their correct relation to one another, and apply the principle to a particular situation. As a mathematics teacher, we should develop testing and observation techniques to assist us in recognizing students’ viewpoints of the concepts and principles which we are teaching. All of us have at times memorized the proofs of theorems, with no understanding of the concepts and principles involved in the proof, in order to pass tests. While this subterfuge is a form of learning, it is not what teacher hope to have students learning by proving theorems. B. The Phases of A Learning Sequence There are four phases of a learning sequence. They are the apprehending phase, the acquisition phase, the storage phase, and the retrieval phase. Below are the descriptions of each phase of a learning sequence. 1. The Apprehending Phase The first phase of learning is the apprehending phase. It is the learner’s awareness of a stimulus or a set of stimuli which are present in the learning situation. Awareness, or attending, will lead the learner to perceive characteristics of the set of stimuli. What the learner perceives will be uniquely coded by each individual and will be registered in his or her mind. This idiosyncratic way in which each learner apprehends a given stimulus results in a common problem in teaching and learning. 2. The Acquisition Phase The next phase in learning is the acquisition phase. It is attaining or possessing the fact, skill, concept, or principle which is to be learned. Acquisition of mathematical knowledge can be determined by observing or measuring the fact that a person does not possess the required knowledge or behavior before an appropriate stimulus is presented, and that he or she has attained the required knowledge or behavior immediately after presentation of the stimulus.

3. The Storage Phase After a person has acquired a new capability, it must be retained or remembered. This is the storage phase of learning. The human storage facility is the memory, and research indicates that there are two types of memory. They are short-term memory and long-term memory. 4. The Retrieval Phase The fourth phase of learning is the retrieval phase. It is the ability to call out the information that has been acquired and stored in memory. The process of information retrieval is very imprecise, disorganized, and even mystical. C. Types of Learning There are eight types of learning. They are signal learning, stimulus-response learning, chaining, verbal association, discrimination learning, concept learning, rule learning, and problem solving. Below are the descriptions of each type of learning. 1. Signal Learning Signal learning is involuntary learning resulting from either a single instance or a number of repetitions of a stimulus which will evoke an emotional response in an individual. In order for signal learning to occur, there must be a neutral signal stimulus and a second, unexpected stimulus that will evoke an emotional response in the learner which he or she will associate with the neutral stimulus. In the example of the person who learned to fear group signing in a first grade music class, the neutral signal stimulus was singing in a group and the unexpected stimuli were a shout and a slap. As a mathematics teacher, we should attempt to generate unconditioned stimuli which will evoke pleasant emotions in our students and hope that they will associate some of these pleasant sensations with the natural signal which is our mathematics classroom. 2. Stimulus-Response Learning Stimulus-response learning is also learning to respond to a signal. It is voluntary and physical. Stimulus-response learning involves voluntary movements of the learner’s skeletal muscles in response to stimuli so that the learner can carry out an action when he or she wants to do. Most examples of pure stimulus-response learning in people are found in young children. They are learning to say words, carry out various life-supporting functions, use simple tools, and display socially acceptable behaviors. 3. Chaining Chaining is the sequential connection of two or more previously learned non-verbal stimulus-response actions. The examples of chaining are tying a shoe, opening a door, starting an automobile, throwing a ball, sharpening a pencil, and painting a ceiling.

In order for chaining to occur, the learner must have previously learned each stimulus-response link required in the chain. If each link has been learned, chaining can be facilitated by helping the learner establish the correct sequence of stimulus-response acts for the chain. Most activities in mathematics which entail manipulation of physical devices such as rulers, compasses, and geometric models require chaining. Learning to bisect an angle with a straightedge and a compass requires proper sequencing and implementing of a set of previously learned stimulus-response type skills. Among these skills are the ability to use a compass to strike an arc and the ability to construct a straight line between two points. 4. Verbal Association Verbal association is chaining of verbal stimuli; that is, the sequential connection of two or more previously learned verbal stimulus-response actions. The mental processes involved in verbal association are very complex and not completely understood at present. Most researchers do agree that efficient verbal association requires the use of intervening mental links which act as codes and which can be either verbal, auditory, or visual images. These codes usually occur in the learner’s mind and will vary from learner to learner according to each person’s unique mental storehouse of codes. For example, one person may use the verbal mental code “y is determined by x” as a cue for the word function, another person may code function symbolically as “y = f(x)”, and someone else may visualize two sets of elements enclosed in circles with arrows extending from the elements of one set to the elements of the other set. The most important use of the verbal association type of learning is in verbal dialogue. Good oratory and writing depend upon a vast store of memorized verbal associations in the mind of the orator or writer. To express ideas and rational arguments in mathematics it is necessary to have a large store of verbal association about mathematics. 5. Discrimination Learning Discrimination learning is learning to differentiate among chains; that is, to recognize various physical and conceptual objects. There are two kinds of discrimination. They are single discrimination and multiple-discrimination. As students are learning various discriminations among chains, they may also be forming these stimulus-response chains at the same time. This somewhat disorganized learning situation can, and usually does, result in several phenomena of multiple discrimination learning (generalization, extinction, and interference).  Generalization is the tendency for the learner to classify a set of similar but distinct chains into a single category and fail to discriminate or differentiate among the chains.  If appropriate reinforcement is absent from the learning of a chain of stimuli and responses, extinction or elimination of that chain occurs.  Interference can be a problem in learning a foreign language such as French, which has many words similar in meaning and spelling to English words. 6. Concept Learning

Concept learning is learning to recognize common properties of concrete objects or events and responding to these objects or events as a class. In order for students to learn a concept, simpler types of prerequisite learning must have occurred. Acquisition of any specific concept must be accompanied by prerequisite stimulus-response chains, appropriate verbal associations, and multiple-discrimination of distinguishing characteristics. For example, the first step in acquiring the concept of circle might be learning to say the word circle as a self-generated stimulus-response connection, so that students can repeat the word. Then students may learn to identify several different objects as circles by acquiring individual verbal association. Next, students may learn to discriminate between circles and other objects such as triangles and squares. It is also important for students to be exposed to circles in a wide variety of representative situations so that they learn to recognize circles which are imbedded in more complex objects. When the students are able to spontaneously identify circles in unfamiliar contexts, they have acquired the concept ofcircle. 7. Rule Learning Rule learning is the ability to respond to an entire set of situations (stimuli) with a whole set of actions (responses). Rule learning appears to be the predominant type of learning to facilitate efficient and coherent human functioning. Our speech, writing, routine daily activities, and many of our behaviors are governed by rules which we have learned. In order for people to communicate and interact, and for society to function in any form except anarchy, a huge and complex set of rules must be learned and observed by a large majority of people. Much of mathematics learning is rule learning. For example, we know that and that ; however without knowing the rule that can be represented by , we would not be able to generalize beyond those few specific multiplication problem which we have already attempted. In first, most people learn and use the rule that multiplication is commutative without being able to state it. In order to discuss this rule, it must be given either a verbal or a symbolic formulation such as “the order in which multiplication is done doesn’t make any difference in the answer” or “for all numbers a and b, ”; This particular rule and rules in general, can be thought of as sets of relations among sets of concepts. Mathematics teachers need to be aware that being able to state a definition or write a rule on a sheet of paper is little indication of whether a student has learned the rule. If students are to learn a rule they must have previously learned the chains of concepts that constitute the rule. The conditions of rule learning begin by specifying the behavior expected of the learner in order to verify that the rule has been learned. A rule has been learned when the learner can appropriately and correctly apply the rule in a number of different situations. In his book The Conditions of Learning, Robert Gagne (1970) gives a five step instructional sequence for teaching rules:  Step 1: Inform the learner about the form of the performance to be expected when learning is completed.  Step 2: Question the learner in a way that requires the reinstatement (recall) of the previously learned concepts that make up the rule.  Step 3: Use verbal statements (cues) that will lead the learner to put the rule together, as a chain of concepts, in the proper order.  Step 4: By means of a question, ask the learner to “demonstrate” one of (sic) more concrete instances of the rule.  Step 5: (Optional, but useful for later instruction): By a suitable question, require the learner to make a verbal statement of the rule. 8. Problem-Solving

As one might expect, problem-solving is a higher order and more complex type learning than rule-learning, and rule acquisition is prerequisite to problem-solving. Problem solving involves selecting and chaining sets of rules in a manner unique to the learner which results in the establishment of a higher order set of rules which was previously unknown to the learner. Real-word problem solving usually involves five steps, they are:  Presentation of the problem in a general form  Restatement of the problem into an operational definition  Formulation of alternative hypothesis and procedures which may be appropriate means of attacking the problem  Testing hypothesis and carrying out procedures to obtain a solution or a set of alternative solutions  Deciding which possible solution is most appropriate or verifying that a single solution is correct. D. Learning Hierarchies A learning hierarchy for problem-solving or rule-learning is a structure containing a sequence of subordinate and prerequisite abilities which a student must master before he or she can learn the higher order task. Gagne describes learning as observable changes in people’s behavior, and his learning hierarchies are composed of abilities which can be observed or measured. According to Gagne, if a person has learned, then that person can carry out some activity that he or she could not do previously. Since most activities in mathematics require definable and observable prerequisite learning, mathematics topics lend themselves to hierarchical analyses. When specifying a learning hierarchy for a mathematical skill, it is usually not necessary to consider all of subordinate skills. Constructing a learning hierarchy for a mathematical topic is more than merely listing the steps in learning the rule or solving the problem. Preparing a list of steps is a good starting point; however the distinguishing characteristic of a learning hierarchy is an up-side-down tree diagram of subordinate and super-ordinate abilities which can be demonstrated by students or measured by teachers. Below is the list of steps used to derive the quadratic formula.

And then, the following figure is a first approximation to a learning hierarchy for deriving the quadratic formula.

The figure above is a learning hierarchy, because both super-ordinate and subordinate abilities are specified in their appropriate relationship to each other. That figure can be thought of as first approximation to the learning hierarchy for solving a quadratic equation. A more careful consideration of prerequisite abilities and research with students might result in a more precise hierarchy for this problem-solving ability. A. Condition of Learning

In order for learning to take place certain conditions must be present. In 1965, Robert Gagne published his book entitled The Conditions of Learning. In this book, Gagne described the analysisof learning objectives, and how they relate to the appropriateinstructional designs (Lawson, 1974). Gagne is considered to be the primary researcher and contributor for the orderly approach to instructional design and training. He is known as a behaviorist and focused on the outcomes or behaviors that result from instruction. The Conditions of Learning theory stipulates several different types or levels of learning. These classifications of learning are significant because each type requires a different kind of instruction. Gagne distinguishes between two types of conditions, internaland external. The internal conditions are thought of as “states” and include attention, motivation, and recall (Wilson, 1978). The externalconditions are thought of as factors that surround one’s behavior, and include the arrangement and timing of stimulus events (Wilson, 1978). By taking these conditions into consideration, Gagne developed four phases for learning. These include receiving the stimulus situation,stage of acquisition, storage, and retrieval. This is the process thatmust occur for learning to take place. The Conditions of Learning theory identifies five categories of learning. Each is a type of learning that can occur. They are verbalinformation, intellectual skills, cognitive strategies, motor skills, and attitudes. Gagne suggests that learning tasks for intellectual skills can be organized based on their complexity. According to his model, the abilities established by learning are arranged in a hierarchical fashion where one task is dependent upon the learning of a more simplistic one (Lawson, 1974). In order from simple to complex are the learning tasks, stimulus recognition, response generation, procedure following, use of terminology, discriminations, concept formation, rule application, and problem solving (Lawson, 1974). The significance of the hierarchy is to identify prerequisites that should be completed to assist learning at each level and provide a basis for the sequence of instruction. After Gagne had identified the mental conditions for learning,he created a nine-step process called the events of instruction. This process includes the sequence of the instructional events and the corresponding learning processes that guide the instruction. The sequence for the instructional events is gain attention, inform learnersof objectives, stimulate recall of prior learning, present the content,provide learning guidance, elicit performance, provide feedback, assess performance, and enhance retention and transfer (Reyes,1990). By following these events the necessary conditions of learningshould be satisfied. These events should also be the basis for designing instruction and selecting the appropriate media for learning. The nine-step instructional events could be used in the teaching of classifying polynomials. By using each step students could gain an understanding of what polynomials are, what their purpose is, and how they can be applied to problem situations. The Conditionsof Learning theory is quite relevant to instructional use. It allows the instructor to first understand how learning takes place and the different types that occur. Then, it assists in providing the type of instruction needed based on that information. The most importantthing to remember about the conditions of learning is that differentinstruction is required for different learning outcomes.