Robert Gagné

Robert Mills Gagné (born August 21, 1916 in North Andover , Massachusetts , † April 28, 2002 in Signal Mountain ( Tennessee )) was an American experimental psychologist and educator .

Gagné studied psychology at Yale University and first became a teacher at a girls' college. He received his PhD in experimental psychology from Brown University in 1940 . After serving in World War II as a second lieutenant , when he helped pick pilots in aptitude tests, he became a teacher again and then went to the US Air Force as a research director at the Air Force Personnel and Training Research Center. He has taught at Princeton University since 1958 and at Florida State University since 1969 and was considered one of the leading figures in the field of educational psychology and didactics in the USA for several decades . He founded the " instructional design " (didactic design) for lesson planning.

In the 1970s he worked on a number of projects for the US military, contributing to the development of the Instructional Systems Design (ISD) approach to planning complex teaching systems. He was also involved as a pioneer in the application of computer-aided learning processes (CBT).

Theories

Eight learning styles / types

In 1965, Gagné distinguished eight different learning processes in Conditions of Learning , which rise hierarchically higher:

• Signal learning: Classical conditioning (salivary reflex)
• Stimulus-Response Learning: Operant Conditioning
• Learning motor chains: forming chains of motor processes (e.g. brushing teeth)
• Learning linguistic associations: building a chain of linguistic elements (e.g. counting)
• Learning multiple discrimination: differentiating between very similar elements and chains (two foreign languages)
• Concept learning: Classifying things through terms
• Regular learning: knowledge of chains of terms
• Problem solving: applying rules to problems

These types of learning, the first four in the stimulus-response model , the last four cognitively , are organized hierarchically in that each category builds on the previous one.

Nine events

His model of the “Nine Events of Instruction” (1965) is one of the best-known approaches to lesson planning and is an integral part of teacher training in the USA. These nine "classroom events" are:

1. gain attention
2. Inform learner of objectives clarify learning objectives
3. Stimulate recall of prior learning - activate prior knowledge
4. Present stimulus material - provide learning material
5. Provide learner guidance
6. Elicit performance - let behavior be executed
7. Provide feedback
8. Assess performance
9. Enhance retention transfer - promote transfer

Works

• The Conditions of Learning (1965, numerous reprints). The condition of human learning , reprint 2011 after the 3rd amerik. Edition 1977 ISBN 978-3830925842
• Principles of Instructional Design (1974, numerous new editions).

Web links

• Literature by and about Robert Gagné in the catalog of the German National Library
• Biography (English)
• Gagné

Single receipts

1. ^ Stangl: Types of learning according to Gagné. Retrieved August 10, 2020 .