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Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction: Lesson Plan sample

A teacher can ensure that they are providing the children an effective learning environment by creating their lesson plan based on the Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction. Below is a sample lesson plan:

A 15 minutes lesson plan is prepared based on Robert Gagne’s nine events of Instruction:

Learning area: Science	Date/ Time: TBA
Age group: Year 4	Topic: Dissolving Sugar

Events	Explanation of events	Lesson planned using cognitive-constructivist approach
1. Gain attention	Capture the attention of learners by asking questions or presenting new situation. The idea is to grab their attention.	Showing a short video on the topic that we are about to learn. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhQtqouEv1U
2. Inform learner of objectives	Describe the objectives of a lesson, state what the learners will be able to perform and how they will be able to use the knowledge	·         Able to identify which liquid dissolves the sugar faster (Inform learners by writing the objective on the board)
3. Stimulate prior learning	Build on what the learner’s already know. Start from previous relevant experience, concepts, knowledge to correlate it with new information.	Group activity: Students are to sort the pictures of materials on the correct table prepared by the teacher e.g. Soluble Insoluble
4. Present stimulus material	Display new content which must be chunked, explained, then demonstrated	Showing children the different materials that they will be using to conduct the experiment Stirrer Bicar/ clear cups Oil, Vinegar, water, lemon juice
5. Provide learner guidance	Give instructions on how to learn. Assist learners for better learning.	Children are given instructions to conduct an experiment with their group on which liquid does sugar dissolve faster and how they should be writing their answers in the answer sheet.
6. Elicit performance (practice)	Learners practice in order to do something with the newly acquired behavior, skills, or knowledge.and demonstrate learning.
7. Provide feedback	Provide specific, immediate feedback on learner’s performance, reinforcing and correcting errors.	Teacher will be walking around while the children are doing their assignment and ask various questions to reinforce their learning. E.g: Did you stir the same amount of time and speed for each liquid? What other factors will you need to look at to ensure you are doing a fair test?
8. Assess performance	Test to determine to what extent the new knowledge has been mastered.	During the experiment, a general verbal assessment will be done with the student to determined the Mastery standards of the children A short presentation by the student on the experiment they had just conducted
9. Enhance retention and transfer	Provide similar problem situations and encourage learners to transfer their newly acquired knowledge to novel situations.	Giving them a different experiment to conduct and get them to think the same way to gain the correct and fair result e.g.  Which soap produces more lather? Which toy car is the fastest? Which paper allows the light go through it the most?

Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction

Gagne's book, The Conditions of Learning, first published in 1965, identified the mental conditions for learning. These were based on the information-processing model of the mental events that occur when adults are presented with various stimuli. According to Robert Gagne, there are nine events that activate processes needed for effective learning. In order to develop an effective learning, an effective teaching should take place.

Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction

1. Gain attention. Grab the learners' attention so that they will watch and listen. Evoke curiosity by using an "interest device" such as storytelling, demonstrations, presenting a problem to be solved, or doing something the wrong way. Startle the senses with auditory or visual stimuli.
2. Inform learner of objective. Present lesson objectives, allowing learners to organize their thoughts around what they are about to see, hear, and/or do.
3. Stimulate recall of prior knowledge. Allow the learners to build on their personal experience, previous knowledge or skills.



4. Present the material. Organize the content in a meaningful way and chunk it appropriately, dividing it into familiar manageable units.
5. Provide guidance for learning. Use strategies such as examples, non-examples, case studies, graphical representations, mnemonics, and analogies.
6. Elicit performance. Allow the learner do something with the newly acquired behavior, skills, or knowledge. Repetition increases the likelihood of retention.



7. Provide feedback. Provide specific and immediate feedback. Analyze the learner's behavior if necessary.
8. Assess performance. Administer a test to determine if the lesson has been learned.
9. Enhance retention and transfer. Inform the learner about similar problem situations, provide additional practice, put the learner in a transfer situation, review the lesson.
Gagne spent over 50 years involved with military training research and development, and his ideas continue to play a key role in prescribing how instruction is developed in the military. His influential model has also been adopted by instructional designers, as well as teachers and trainers for lesson planning.

References
Gagne, R. (1965). The conditions of learning (1st ed.). New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Richey, R. (Ed.) (2000). The legacy of Robert M. Gagné. Eric Clearinghouse on Information and Technology, Syracuse, NY. retrieved from http://www.ibstpi.org/Products/Legacy-Gagne.htm on August 10, 2010

Effective Teaching Approach in class

Teacher plays an important role in creating an effective classroom successfully. Normally, in a typical traditional classroom, teacher tends to model a one-person role by which they do all the talking whereby the audience are just listening (Phillips, J.A., 2010). Lessons are based totally on the textbooks and notes where children just read and memorise the concepts or knowledge. Teachers basically read out the same text from the notes or textbook to the children. There is limited room for questions & answering sessions, student-directed activity, hands-on experience, and independent thought.

"Cognitive constructivist" approach will be one of the best approach to promote effective teaching in a classroom. In cognitive constructivist approach, teachers are known as facilitators or instructors who teach students to use their thinking skills to gain knowledge. Teachers observe and understand their student’s prior knowledge and create experiences or activities that will lead to a correct mental processing and attainment of a new knowledge. This is vital to the process of cognitive constructivism (Kalina, C., & Powell, K. C., 2009). The teachers are meant to extend and challenge the student’s existing knowledge by allowing them to experiment, think, process and discover knowledge individually (Doolittle, P. E., & Camp, W. G., 1999). Therefore, the teachers will have to understand the theory of cognitive constructivism thoroughly and prepare the necessary tools to form a constructivist environment. Teachers will have to actively converse and guide students to develop enquiring minds that encourage the habit of thinking within the children.

Chart 1: Creating a cognitive constructivist environment.

Effective Classroom Interactions: Supporting Young Children's Development with u

Examples of interaction activities in the classroom.

Interactions...continue...

Interaction also helps the teacher to know how much a child has learnt from the school or from the peer. Through interaction, an effective teacher can always create curiosity in a child so that the child would look forward to find out the answers himself. This helps to stretch the child’s thinking and it leads to develop critical thinking skills. By scaffolding, an effective teacher’s suggestion will stimulate a child’s learning. Well directed, explicit teaching, contributes very significantly to the learning which takes place within each child’s zone of proximal development (Peter Westwood, 1996, p.69).  

Lessons may be altered to meet the needs of a child. An effective teacher always turns difficulties to opportunities by using different strategies on different child. Van Kraayenoord and Elkins (1994) have commented that when teaching is viewed as an interactive process, the teacher is sensitive to the characteristics of the students and uses a wide variety of techniques (Peter Westwood, 1996, p 68). There’s no more “one size fits all” strategy on all children in this contemporary teaching. An effective teacher has to think fast and acts fast.