Educational Psychology - Gagne and Bloom

Chapter 3

The Processes of Learning and Instruction

The following are the objectives of this chapter:

List, describe, and identify examples of each of the following:

a. the five elements in Carroll's model of school learning.

Unit Quiz Question 10

b. the eight events described by Gagne in the learning process.

Unit Quiz Question 3 through 5

c. the nine events described by Gagne in the instructional process.

Unit Quiz Question 1 and 2

d. the six levels of cognitive outcomes in Bloom's Taxonomy.

Unit Quiz Question 6 and 8
Bloom's Taxonomy Web Page

e. the five outcomes of instruction described by Gagne.

Unit Quiz Question 7 and 9
Define mastery learning and describe strategies for implementing it.
Describe strategies for implementing each of the nine events described by Gagne in the instructional process.

Possible Problems and Solutions

1. Students often confuse retrieval to working memory with cueing retrieval.

Similarities: They both involve the retrieval of information to the working memory.
Differences: With regard to the current learning task, retrieval to working memory is an early step during the learning process. The purpose of this step is to activate other information from long-term memory that will make it easier to learn the current information. Cueing retrievalis the final step in the learning process. It occurs after the learner has achieved an initial mastery of the current information. The purpose of this step is to assure that the information will (a) not be forgotten and (b) will be transferred to other appropriate situations.

Note: Since learning of concepts and information often overlaps, there may be two or more learning sequences that are occurring simultaneously. Therefore, a single piece of information may serve both purposes - but in two separate learning sequences. For example, while learning long division, a child may retrieve to working memory information about short division, addition, etc. This is the third step in the learning process for the long division unit. At the same time, however, this retrieval of information about short division, addition, etc. may serve as the final step in the short division, addition, etc. units. This kind of instructional overlap is highly desirable.

2. Students often confuse eliciting performance with providing feedback.

Similarities: They both include aspects of the learner making a response and obtaining feedback.
Differences: Eliciting performance occurs is an attempt by the teacher (or someone or something else, such as a textbook) to require the learner to do something with what has been learned so far. It is a relatively informal activity that is performed many, many times during the learning process. The purpose of this instructional event is to provide an opportunity for the learner to obtain feedback, so that the teacher and learner can determine which earlier events need to be performed again as they loop back through the earlier events. For example, a learner may give a response (Event 6), receive feedback (Event 7) that she needs some prerequisite knowledge, and then loop back to Events 3 through 5 before trying Event 6 again. The learner may find it necessary to go through sequences of this type several times before feeling that she would like to attempt a more formal assessment. This more formal assessment at Event 8 would occur much more rarely than the informal response and feedback at Events 6 and 7.

Notes: (a) A student studying Spanish or English vocabulary might work through events 6 and 7 many times while preparing for a test. For example, the student might use flashcards or study with a peer. Eventually, the student would take a test, which would represent Event 8. (b) In terms that will be discussed later in Chapter 13 of this book, eliciting performance and providing feedback are part of formative evaluation; assessing performance is more often part of summative evaluation.

3. Students sometimes confuse providing feedback with assessment.

Similarities: They both provide the learner with information regarding the status of his or her progress toward mastering an educational goal. Indeed, these two instructional events are so similar that the two of them are the instructional counterparts of the learning process called reinforcement.
Providing feedback occurs while the student is learning. It is a relatively informal activity that is performed many, many times during the learning process. Assessing performance is a more formal activity that occurs once the learner has come to at least an initial mastery of the topic. The purpose of providing feedback is to ascertain the student's current (en route) status, so that the teacher and learner can determine which earlier events need to be performed again as they loop back through the earlier events. For example, a learner may give a response (Event 6), receive feedback (Event 7) that she needs some prerequisite knowledge, and then loop back to Events 3 through 5 before trying Events 6 and 7 again. The learner may find it necessary to go through sequences of this type several times before feeling that she would like to attempt a more formal assessment. This more formal assessment at Event 8 would occur much more rarely than the informal assessments at Events 6 and 7.

4.Students sometimes confuse the term reinforcement as it is used in this chapter with its use in behavior modification (Chapter 10).

Similarities: The word is exactly the same, and the use of the word in this chapter overlaps with the concept as it is used in behavior modification.
Differences: In this chapter the term reinforcement refers to the entire process of obtaining feedback. Since the feedback can be either positive or negative, the most dramatic difference is that the usage of the term in this chapter also encompasses what Chapter 10 will refer to as punishment - which is the opposite of reinforcement in behavior modification.

5. Students sometimes confuse the comprehension and analysis levels of Bloom's taxonomy.

Similarities: They both focus on understanding information rather than simply recalling it. In addition, both are relatively passive, in the sense that they involve taking information in rather than constructing something with that information.
Differences: Comprehension focuses on a single piece or simple set of information. Analysis focuses on complex information. In a sense, analysis is complex comprehension: the learner uses several concepts which he or she can already comprehend, and examines (analyzes) a novel situation or problem in terms of these previously comprehended concepts. If you understand Gagne's events of instruction, that's comprehension (of each of these topics separately). If you examine an applied instructional setting in which a teacher is instructing a student and determine when they are working through each of these events, this would be analysis.

6. Students sometimes confuse the application and synthesis levels of Bloom's taxonomy.

Similarities: They both focus on actually using (applying) information rather than simply recalling or understanding it. Both are relatively active, in the sense that they involve doing something with information rather than merely coming to an understanding of that information.
Differences: Application focuses on the use of a single piece or simple set of information to solve a problem in a situation in which only that restricted amount of information is necessary. In synthesis, on the other hand, the learner brings together a wide range of information that he or she has already applied elsewhere and applies these to the solution of a novel problem. In this sense, synthesis is complex application. If you understand Gagne's events of instruction, you might wish to apply your knowledge of them. If you went to a classroom and decided specifically to see to it that the learners retrieved previous knowledge from long-term memory as a specific event of instruction, this would be application. While you were doing this, you might decide also to use the information processing principles described in Chapter 6 or the scaffolding strategies described in Chapter 7 to help students do this more effectively. This would be synthesis. To use another example, if a student learns how to do long division and then completes a worksheet with 20 long division problems, this would be application. If the student first learned and practiced applying several principles and mathematical processes and then took an examination or solved a practical problem requiring a combination of several of these skills that had been previously learned, this would be an example of synthesis.

Note: It is not always possible to tell by simply looking at a test item whether it requires application or synthesis. If a student looks at a complicated problem and says, "That's just like the one we solved yesterday," then solving this problem might require simple application of what has already been learned. On the other hand, if a student looks at the same problem and says, "This one is tough. I'll have to see how I can apply what I know to solving it," then this problem would require synthesis. (Of course, the learner might also look at the problem and say, "This is exactly the same problem that the book used as an example. All I have to do is remember what the book said." In this case, the answer would require mere knowledge or at the most comprehension.

{A more detailed discussion of these distinctions can be found on the supplemental Bloom's Taxonomy Web Page.}

7. Students sometimes are confused about the evaluation level of Bloom's taxonomy. The most frequent mistake is that they think it has something to do with liking or disliking (which would be an attitude.)

Basis of confusion: When we are asked to evaluate something (such as the quality of instruction), we are often asked how we like it. In other words, in practical experience, our attitudes influence our evaluations. However, this is not what Bloom is talking about.
Clarification: In evaluation, the learner uses specific cognitive criteria to make a judgment regarding the quality of something someone else has created or which the learner has created. The learner is essentially using specific criteria to evaluate an analysis or a synthesis. Evaluation goes a step beyond synthesis or analysis.

In analysis, the learner uses several concepts which he or she can already comprehend, and examines (analyzes) a novel situation or problem in terms of these previously comprehended concepts. With evaluation, the learner makes a judgment regarding whether there is a better way to understand that complex problem.

In synthesis, the learner brings together a wide range of information that he or she has already applied elsewhere and applies these to the solution of a novel problem. With evaluation, the learner makes a judgment regarding how information could have been better combined to solve that problem more effectively.

{A more detailed discussion of these distinctions can be found on the supplemental Bloom's Taxonomy Web Page.}

8. Students sometimes confuse cognitive strategies with intellectual skills.

Similarities: Both are thinking skills. Both can involve using information in a creative way beyond the situation in which it was originally learned. In addition, higher-order rules sometimes become very complex and can be generalized to such a wide variety of settings that they look like cognitive strategies.
Differences: Intellectual skills refer to knowing how to do something in a particular subject area. (This doesn't have to be an academic subject area. Knowing how to use a card catalog is an intellectual skill.) Cognitive strategies are manners in which learners guide their attending, learning, remembering, and thinking. These thinking skills are more general and are applicable across many subject areas. Intellectual skills are usually the content area skills discussed in Chapter 7. Cognitive strategies, on the other hand, are usually the metacognitive and more general reasoning skills discussed in Chapter 7. Cognitive strategies are almost personality characteristics: it's not possible to change them in a short period of instruction. On the other hand, intellectual skills - though often complex - are often the target of specific units of instruction.

Note: I need to add in the Workbook semiprogrammed units on Bloom's Taxonomy and Gagne's Outcomes of Learning. One point to make there is that psychomotor skills and academic skills are surprisingly similar. They both involve an executive routine and using that routine to orchestrate a skilled performance of subskills. While it is possible to think about the executive routine, persons performing the skills normally perform them automatically, without conscious reflection on the executive routine.

How It All Fits Together

How Chapter 3 Fits with Other Chapters:

Academic Learning Time (Chapter 2)

Devoting sufficient ALT to a learning task enables the learner to engage in the necessary events of instruction which enable learning to take place. Reducing the amount of time needed for any step will weaken the overall processing of information.
ALT can be directed to any of the events of instruction. To count as ALT, time spent on each event must be spent with the learner actively engaged at a "high rate of success." Inefficient use of learning time at any step is likely to make it more difficult to use time effectively at subsequent steps of instruction.

Human Development (Chapter 4)

The events of instruction run parallel to Piaget's processes of assimilation and accommodation. The learner becomes alerted and motivated and then
assimilates information by retrieving the appropriate schemata, assimilating new information through these schemata, and fitting this new information into the existing structures, which often results in an accommodation of those structures.

The learner's capabilities to engage in the various events of instruction change as the result of human development. At different developmental levels, the teacher will be able to expect different types of participation and self-directed learning.

Motivation (Chapter 5)

Motivation is an important component of the first two events of instruction, and it increases the likelihood that learners will perform the remaining events of instruction.

Information Processing and Memory (Chapter 6)

The steps of information processing comprise events 3, 4, and 5 of instruction.
Many of the strategies for enhancing the delivery of instruction (such as advance organizers and instructional probes are derived from the theory of information processing.

Thinking Skills (Chapter 7)

Learners use their thinking skills to perform many of the events of instruction. Most significantly, if learners develop effective cognitive strategies, they can take responsibility for a major part of the encoding process. By understanding the thinking skills of their students, teachers can orchestrate the appropriate combination of teacher-directed, student-directed, and textbook-centered activities to promote efficient progress through the events of instruction.
In addition, learners who make deliberate, metacognitive attempts to manage their activities during the events of instruction are likely to process information more effectively.

Affective Outcomes and Personality Characteristics (Chapter 8)

The attitudes and personality characteristics of learners often influence the degree to which motivation can be activated and the prerequisite skills that they will bring to the learning situation.
In addition, the events of instruction can be employed to help learners arrive at affective outcomes (attitudes). Many apparently cognitive outcomes (e.g., American literature or social studies) have important affective components.

Individual Differences (Chapter 9)

Individuals vary in the skills they bring to the various events of instruction and in the degree to which they can take responsibility for their own activity at each step. More specifically, Chapter 9 shows that

Some students with learning disabilities have considerable difficulties with certain events of instruction, but then proceed easily with other events.

Differences in development, cultural background, and in specific areas of learning cause wide variation in the types of prior knowledge students will be able to activate during the third event of instruction.

Differences in learning styles will often suggest varied strategies when stimulus material is presented during the fourth event of instruction.

Cultural diversity can have both positive and negative impacts on the encoding of information during the fifth event of instruction. Positive impacts occur because diverse learners bring to the learning situation a wider variety of means for encoding information. Negative impacts occur when the cultural background of learners omits structures that would have been useful for successful processing of information.

Behavior Modification (Chapters 10 and 11)

Reinforcing learners for participating in the events of instruction increases the likelihood that they will continue to participate in these events in the future.
Successful completion of the events of instruction is often reinforcing. In many cases, successful completion of these events is a powerful natural reinforcer.

In addition, reinforcement arising from feedback and assessment is itself an important part of learning and instruction,

Observational Learning (Chapter 12)

All of the principles discussed in chapters 10 and 11 can occur vicariously as well as directly. This means that if one student sees another successfully complete the events of instruction, the observer can benefit from this process - provided that the observer can see what is happening.
In addition, scaffolded instruction is a good method for leading learners through the phases of learning with regard to high-order thinking skills.

Classroom Management and Discipline (Chapter 13)

A major purpose of effective classroom management is to establish an atmosphere where the events of instruction can efficiently take place.

Testing and Assessment (Chapter 14)

Testing and evaluation form the basis of the sixth and seventh events of instruction.

Tools for Delivering Instruction (Chapter 15)

This chapter describes specific strategies for implementing the events of instruction. It focuses on strategies that were not covered in the separate chapters, and it also provides an integration of all these with the principles discussed in the present chapter.

Checklist for Planning Effective Instruction

(The following checklist is based on Gagne's processes of learning and events of instruction.)

_____ Set goals for the unit of instruction.
_____ Write instructional objectives.
_____ Develop or select review tests.
_____ Analyze student characteristics.

a_____ Identify students' prerequisite skills

b_____ Modify the instructional plan, if necessary.
_____ Develop instructional activities that will

a_____ Motivate students.

b_____ Communicate objectives to students.

c_____ Evoke or review prerequisite skills.

d_____ Present information and examples.

e_____ Provide opportunities for practice and feedback.

f_____ Test the students knowledge.

g_____ Provide enrichment and remediation.
_____ Select appropriate instructional media and prepare materials.
_____ Implement the planned instruction.
_____ Evaluate and revise instruction, as necessary.

Unit Review Quiz

1. Meredith is studying her biology textbook. After reading the first part of the chapter on genetics, she asks herself some questions about what she has just read. She can answer all but one of these questions. She looks over the previous paragraphs, finds the answer to that question, and then continues to read the subsequent part of the chapter. What event of instruction is Meredith performing when she asks herself questions and tries to answer them?

a. Gaining attention
b. Stimulating recall of prior knowledge
c. Presenting stimulus material
d. Eliciting performance
e. Enhancing retention and transfer
{Check your answer.}

2. Merle has been having trouble understanding what a metaphor is. He runs a computer program to help him learn this concept. The program points out that a metaphor is really an implied analogy. Because these terms confuse him, he follows an option that branches to a part of the program that briefly reviews what an analogy is and what "implied" means. After he runs this part of the program, Merle continues with the rest of the program and comes to an understanding of what a metaphor is. The part of the computer program that reviewed analogies and the definition of imply was an example of what event of instruction?

a. Gaining attention
b. Stimulating recall of prior knowledge
c. Providing feedback
d. Eliciting performance
e. Enhancing retention and transfer
{Check your answer.}

3. Wilma is running a computer program that simulates the pollution of a lake. She is allowed to change such factors as the amount of garbage, the amount of industrial waste, the temperature of the water, and the type of treatment applied to the waste materials. She carefully enters her decisions regarding each of these variables, pushes the return key, and is told that all the fish died after four days. She is surprised at this result, and she immediately reruns the program, changing some of the variables to try to make the fish live. When the computer told Wilma that the fish died after four days, what learning process was it supporting?

a. attention
b. expectancy
c. selective perception
d. encoding
e. reinforcement
{Check your answer.}

4. All except one of the following are among Gagne's events in the process of learning. Choose the exception.

a. Encoding
b. Expectancy
c. Discovery
d. Responding
e. Selective perception
{Check your answer.}

5. According to Gagne, during the selective perception phase of the learning process, students

a. attend to the important features of the lesson.
b. store the information in memory.
c. transfer information from short-term to long-term memory.
d. demonstrate mastery of the information.
e. become willing to devote attention to the learning task.
{Check your answer.}

6. "The learner will be able to solve word problems involving simple long division." At what level of Bloom's Taxonomy is this objective?

a. Knowledge
b. Comprehension
c. Application
d. Analysis
e. Synthesis
{Check your answer.}

7. According to Gagne, what type of outcome of learning does the objective in Question 6 describe?

a. verbal information
b. intellectual skill
c. cognitive strategy
d. attitude
e. motor skill
{Check your answer.}

8. "The student will be able to give correct answers to factual questions about the VCR instruction manual, paraphrasing in his or her own words the purpose of each part." At what level of Bloom's Taxonomy is this objective?

a. Knowledge
b. Comprehension
c. Application
d. Analysis
e. Synthesis
{Check your answer.}

9. According to Gagne, what type of outcome of learning does the objective in Question 8 describe?

a. verbal information
b. intellectual skill
c. cognitive strategy
d. attitude
e. motor skill
{Check your answer.}

10. Bob is having trouble in the third week of his algebra class. This is because he was in an important track meet during the first week of the class, and this distracted him from studying algebra that week. He fell behind and has never been able to catch up. Bob's current failure in algebra reflects a shortcoming in which of Carroll's elements of effective instruction?

a. aptitude
b. ability to understand instruction
c. perseverance
d. opportunity
e. quality of instruction
{Check your answer.}

Matching Exercises

Carroll's Model of School Learning