A Focus on Robert Gagné’s Instructional Theories: Application to Teaching Audio Engineering

Abstract

IntroductionThe learning theories of Robert M. Gagne have made a lasting impression on the field of education, especially in terms of efforts in curriculum design. His contributions are now widely recognized and have been integrated into the education discipline's broad conception of ideas important to learning and instruction in several fields including the military, instructional design, the medical field, engineering, and leadership (Smith and Ragan 1996).Gagne's major theories include his taxonomy of learning outcomes, conditions of and his nine of instruction. These theories are known more as instructional theories, as traditional learning theory is more behaviorist in nature. It is the job of instructional theory to elicit a set of rules on how changes in human performance come about. Gagne's instructional theories seek to arrange conditions of learning to provide for specific performance outcomes, which makes them more related to the field of curriculum design (see Figure 1) (Driscoll 2000).This paper will apply Gagne's instructional theories, as well as other related theories, to a simple series of steps in teaching audio engineering in the college classroom.BackgroundThe biographical information available on Gagne makes it clear that he was a focused scholar; as a teenager, he already knew he wanted to study psychology (Richey 2000). He grew up in Massachusetts and eventually attended Yale University on scholarship, pursuing the study of psychology (Richey 2000). After receiving his bachelor's degree there, he continued on to do his graduate work at Brown University and eventually received a Ph.D. in experimental psychology (Richey 2000).In 1941, Gagne's work as a professor in Connecticut was halted due to World War II. He served in the military in a research capacity, gradually working his way up the ranks to become a second lieutenant (Richey 2000). He eventually went back to Connecticut and continued research there through a grant from the military, then took a position at the United States Air Force's Human Resources Research Center in 1949. After continuing to work in this and other military-affiliated research facilities, he became a psychology professor at Princeton University in 1958, with a focus on researching skills related to mathematics and problem-solving. Later he would be appointed to a position at the University of California Berkeley and author several books, including his collaboration with L. J. Briggs (Richey 2000). After a lifetime of contributing through research, publishing, and scholarship, Robert Gagne died in 2002 (Cooper 2005).The Nine Events of InstructionGagne's contributions to education include several major theories of learning. One such theory is his events of learning, or of instruction, in which he stipulates the existence of nine learning that are part of almost every learning outcome (Gagne 1985). These events, according to Gagne, can be used to guide the instructional efforts through a pre-ordained set of steps that meet learning initiatives (Gagne 1985). Put more simply, the instructor should be able to develop an effective lesson plan based on these nine steps. It is important to note that Gagne's theories focus on outcomes and behaviors in the instructional process and therefore have a tendency to side with a behaviorist-centered classroom approach.The nine of instruction begin with the event of gaining the learners ' attention so that interest and curiosity can be sparked (Gagne, Briggs, and Wager 1992). Next, the instructor states the objectives of the instructional effort so that expectations of learning can be clarified and the importance of the lesson can be stipulated. The third learning event is to stimulate the learners 'memories of previous related learning so that meaning can be connected with the current efforts. Next, the instructor sets out the new information and describes the material, then guides the learners through examples, demonstrations, and efforts of discovery. …