Gagne’s Conditions of

Learning Theory

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• Although Gagne’s theoretical
framework covers many aspects of
learning, "the focus of the theory is
on intellectual skills" (Kearsley,
1994a)
• Gagne’s theory is very prescriptive.
In its original formulation, special
attention was given to military
training (Gagne 1962, as cited in
Kearsley, 1994a).
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• five major types of learning levels are
identified:
a)verbal information
b)intellectual skills
c)cognitive strategies
d)motor skills
e)attitudes
•
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 Importance of the learning
level
• each learning level requires "different
internal and external conditions"
(Kearsley 1994a) i.e., each learning
level requires different types of
instruction.
• examples:
a)For cognitive strategies- there must be
a chance to practice developing new
solutions to problems
b)to learn attitudes- the learner must be
exposed to a credible role model or
persuasive arguments
 Prepared by Iris Tia (26.02.10)
• Hierarchy of learning tasks for
intellectual skills according to
complexity:
a)stimulus recognition
b)response generation
c)procedure following
d)use of terminology
e)discriminations
f) concept formation
g)rule application
h)problem solving
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
• The primary significance of this
hierarchy is to provide direction for
instructors so that they can
"identify prerequisites that should
be completed to facilitate learning
at each level" (Kearsley 1994a).
• This learning hierarchy also provides
a basis for sequencing instruction.

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• Gagne outlines the following 9
instructional events and
corresponding cognitive processes
(Kearsley 1994a):
1.gaining attention (reception)
2.informing learners of the
objective (expectancy)
3.stimulating recall of prior
learning (retrieval)
4.presenting the stimulus (selective
perception)
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5.
 providing learning guidance
(semantic encoding)
6. eliciting performance
(responding)
7. providing feedback
(reinforcement)
8. assessing performance
(retrieval)
9. enhancing retention and
transfer (generalization)
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 Strength & Weaknesses of
Gagne Theory
• some goals were easy to classify into
the learning outcome categories,
but that many were not as easy to
categorize
• The objectives were more process
oriented than product oriented. It
was always very difficult to put
these processes into performance
terms using Gagne standard verbs.

Corry , 1996

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 References
• Corry, M. (1996). Gagne’s theory of
instruction. Available online:
• Kearsley, G. (1994a). Conditions of
learning (R. Gagne). [Online].
Available:
http://www.gwu.edu/~tip/gagne.ht
ml [December 1, 1999].
•

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