The Phases of Learning

True or False? Teachers teach students by motivating them to learn, then presenting information, and finally checking to see what they learned, going back to reteach and recheck as necessary. Is this a reasonably complete description of the teaching/learning process?

The answer is, no, it is not. The fact that many teachers adhere to this oversimplified perception of the process offers a good explanation for why many of their students fail to learn. The teaching/learning process can be much better described by the eight phases of learning described by Gagne (1985), shown in Figure 3.2.

1. Attention: Alertness

xxx2. Expectancy

xxxxx3. Retrieval to Working Memory

xxxxxxx4. Selective Perception

xxxxxxxxx5. Encoding: Entry to Long-Terem Memory

xxxxxxxxxxx6. Responding

xxxxxxxxxxxxx7. Feedback

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx8. Cueing Retrival

Figure 3.2. The eight phases of learning (based on Gagne, 1985).

In order for effective learning to take place, the learner must go through all eight of these phases. A serious breakdown at any one phase or a cumulative breakdown over several phases can bring learning to a halt. When teachers, textbook writers, computer programmers, or others decide to develop instructional materials or presentations, it is important that they verify that all eight of these phases will occur.

If the instructional designer does not plan for all eight phases, then either (1) some other person or material must supply the missing steps or (2) effective learning will not occur. The following paragraphs briefly describe each of these phases of learning:

1. Attention. Learning is not likely to occur in the absence of attention. Attention is essential for getting information into the working memory and keeping it active there. Therefore, the first phase in the learning process is that the learner must focus attention on the learning activity. Although this is listed as the "first phase," attention must be maintained throughout the other phases as well. {See Figure 3.2.}
   
   
2. Expectancy. During this phase, the learner develops an expectancy that something desirable will happen as a result of the proposed learning process. The result is a motivation to engage in the subsequent phases of the learning process. {See Figure 3.2.}
   
   
3. Retrieval of Relevant Information to Working Memory. The learner retrieves from long-term memory the structures that will be helpful in learning new information or solving problems that have been encountered. {See Figure 3.2.}
   
   
4. Selective Perception. During this phase the learner focuses attention on the essential features of the instructional presentation. It is not always possible for teachers to ascertain by simple inspection where students are focusing attention; and learners often fail to learn because they have focused on the wrong information. {See Figure 3.2.}
   
   Failures at this selective perception can occur either because the presentation inadequately draws attention, because the learner fails to direct attention, or because of a combination of both of these reasons. A frequent source of faulty selective perception is a fundamental misconception about the topic under consideration: the learner may think he/she is focusing on the correct information, when in reality this is a mistake.
   
   Teachers often assume that because their own attention is focused on the right aspects of the presentation, their students must be focusing on the same aspects. It is best to test this assumption and to make corrections when necessary.
   
   
5. Encoding: Entry of Information into Long-Term Storage. During this phase the learner encodes the information on which he or she has clearly focused attention - that is, transfers the information into long-term memory by relating it to information that is already stored there. {See Figure 3.2.}
   
   
6. Responding. During this phase the learner retrieves and actively uses the information that has been stored in long-term memory. The learner demonstrates through an active performance that the learning has taken place. {See Figure 3.2.}
   
   
7. Feedback. During this phase the learner determines the degree to which the performance during the previous phase was satisfactory. When the feedback indicates acceptable performance, this usually serves as reinforcement to the learner. When this feedback shows that the learner's performance was imperfect, the learner loops back to an earlier phase of learning. For example, the learner may go back and seek appropriate prerequisite knowledge or focus attention more effectively during selective perception and then continue again with the subsequent steps. The learner does not go beyond this step until the information has been learned.{See Figure 3.2.}
   
8. Cueing Retrieval. During this phase the learner practices recalling or applying the information after it has been initially learned in order to enhance retention of the information or to transfer the learning beyond its original context to a new application. {See Figure 3.2.}

When we say that the learner must go through all eight of these phases in order for learning to occur, this does not mean that the teacher is the person responsible for causing all eight of them occur. Somebody (usually either the teacher or the student) must see to it that all of these phases occur, but the actual role of the teacher will vary from situation to situation and from student to student. For example:

• The teacher might give an introduction to a topic that catches the student's attention (phase 1) and causes the student to develop an expectancy (phase 2) that it would be interesting to know more about the topic.
  
  
• The student might then open the textbook and find a good presentation that focuses his attention exactly on the key points necessary to understand that topic (phase 4).
  
  
• While reading the textbook, the student might without even being aware that it is happening bring to mind information that he already has previously learned that is related to the text presentation (phase 3).
  
  
• The student might easily fit the information into long-term memory by relating it to previous knowledge; or he may be concerned that he might forget the information and run a computer program that offers a drill on the topic to make it easier to retrieve it later (phase 5).
  
  
• The learner might ask himself questions about the topic or answer review questions published in the textbook; and eventually he might take a test designed by the textbook company and administered by the teacher (phase 6).
  
  
• While studying from the textbook, the student might check the answer key to see if his responses are correct; and the teacher would grade the test and return it to the student (phase 7).
  
  
• After successfully passing the unit quiz, the student might still occasionally review the material in order to keep it available for the final examination. In addition, he might find occasions to generalize the information to other settings by applying what he has learned when he sees the relationship of the information to other problems or topics (phase 8).

If the learner does all these activities by himself, effective learning will occur. If any phase does not occur or occurs imperfectly, learning will be weakened. In such cases, the teacher should intervene to help the learner accomplish the activities that comprise that phase of learning. For example, if the student does not respond on his own, the teacher could assign review questions as a homework assignment, call on the student in class, provide class time to let students study together, or supply interesting problems that stimulate the learner to use the information that was encoded during phase 5.

Amazing Anecdote!

One night a wife found her husband standing over their baby's crib. Silently she watched him. As he stood looking down at the sleeping infant, she saw on his face a mixture of emotions: disbelief, doubt, delight, amazement, enchantment, skepticism.

Touched by this unusual display and the deep emotions it aroused, with eyes glistening she slipped her arm around her husband.

"A penny for your thoughts," she said.

"It's amazing!" he replied. "I just can't see how anybody can make a crib like that for only $46.50."

Moral of the story: Don't automatically assume that someone else's selective perception is focused where yours is.

The main features of the phases of learning are summarized in Table 3.1.

What You Absolutely Have to Do to Learn Something
http://www.calumet.purdue.edu/public/education/vockell/study/

This web site gives a detailed presentation of Chapter 2 of a Study Skills book that runs parallel to Educational Psychology: Applied Approach. This chapter describes the phases of learning from the perspective of a learner. That is, it teaches the reader how to make use of information about these phases in order to become a better student.

Click here to go to summary of chapter.

Click here to return to list of topics.