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Learning Styles

BriAnn Seagraves

We all know that every student learns in different ways. I personally learn better

in an open classroom discussion type of learning. I do not learn from PowerPoints and words on

a board. I need discussion time and I also need to see and feel what I’m learning. Although I

learn one way, I plan to integrate all learning theory's in my classroom by introducing the topic

in several different ways. For example, I may administer a short lecture then move to an online

game or virtual descriptive quiz/game, then do an open classroom discussion and a hands-

on activity. I want to make sure my students are learning and comprehending

and remembering the information to the fullest. Throughout this post I am going to explain

some similarities and differences of Bloom’s and Gagne’s learning Theory's.

Bloom’s level of Taxonomy; Dr Benjamin Bloom developed his learning theory in 1956.

He wanted to create a high level of understanding and thinking in students. Thus, by creating his

levels of Taxonomy he was able to encourage things like evaluation, analyzing, applying and

creating instead of just memorization. You may recognize this as the Blooms Learning Pyramid.

Most every time you search for this you will find a pyramid shape filled with the words (from

top to bottom) Creating, Evaluating, Analyzing, Applying, Understanding, Remembering. This

pyramid is reflecting the levels of thinking and learning. This in Blooms opinion is the best way

for a student to learn a topic. I do like this form of thinking and learning. I find it to be very

effective and the students tend to respond well to this. I know most of all my

teachers implemented this in some way in their classroom, so I am very familiar with this

pyramid. Bloom’s levels are good all-around for students by, promoting creativity, deeper

thinking and understanding, analyzing their work and applying what they have learned in their
lives. I feel in a lot of aspects in their life they use these levels without even realizing it.

At first, I remember being a bit confused when this was first given to me as a student. As I

have aged, I have noticed how much Bloom’s levels have truly helped me in my educational

career.

Gagne’s nine events of instruction. While Bloom focused more on the intake the students

are retaining and receiving. Gagne focused more on the instructor. 1.Gain attention of the

students. 2. Inform students of the objectives. 3. Stimulate recall of prior learning. 4. Present the

content. 5. Provide learning guidance. 6. Elicit performance (practice). 7. Provide feedback.

8. Assess performance. 9. Enhance retention and transfer to the job. Gagne definitely had more

steps then Bloom! Gagne really was trying to promote the instructor to engage, inform, evaluate,

understand, enhance, evaluate, create. He promoted Blooms Levels but on a teacher side of

learning. These levels create an engaging and meaningful lesson and classroom. It also creates an

environment for deeper thinking and that promotes the students to think deeper causing them to

ask deeper questions and understand the lesson on a deeper level. I especially like number 7,

providing feedback is essential. The students need the feedback they need to know they are being

evaluated and need to know what to improve on. Also, they need the positive feedback or

reinforcement letting them know their hard work is noticed.

To me it looks as if both of these concepts go hand in hand. They are very similar

however they are different in who they are for; teachers vs students. I think it is very important

as a teacher to reflect and use Gagne’s levels of instruction as well as enforcing Bloom’s levels.

Bloom’s levels stimulate the students to think and learn and even speak and ask questions

differently. I was a tutor for a year and I implemented Bloom’s levels during group interactions.
The students were encouraged to engage and help each other with their problems

and implementing Bloom’s really benefitted the depth to the questions they were asking their

peers along with how they responded. By the end of the year the students had

grown especially in the way they were thinking. As an instructor I personally like Gagne’s

levels. I know implementing them for myself will benefit me as well as my students. Because if I

am doing the best I can and everything I can then my students are least likely to fail in my

classroom.

My Citations:

eLearning Industry. (2018). How To Apply Gagné's 9 Events Of Instruction In eLearning -


eLearning Industry. [online] Available at: https://elearningindustry.com/how-to-apply-
gagnes-9-events-of-instruction-in-elearning [Accessed 11 Oct. 2018].

Niu.edu. (2018). [online] Available at:


https://www.niu.edu/facdev/_pdf/guide/learning/gagnes_nine_events_instruction.pdf
[Accessed 11 Oct. 2018].

Nwlink.com. (2018). Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning Domains: The Cognitive Domain. [online]
Available at: http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html [Accessed 11 Oct.
2018].

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