Gagne's Learning Outcomes

Gagne (1985) classified learning outcomes into five categories, including the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains. The five learning outcomes are intellectual skills, cognitive strategy, verbal information, motor skills, and attitude. The intellectual skills, cognitive strategy, and verbal information are in the cognitive domain. The motor skills are in the psychomotor domain. The attitude is the affective domain. Let's discuss each learning outcome.

Intellectual skills

Intellectual skills involve the procedural knowledge (how to do things). These skills are subdivided into different levels of learning: discrimination, concrete concept, defined concept, rule, and problem-solving (Gagne et al., 1992). 

  • Discrimination is the ability to differentiate objects based on one or more of their physical characteristics, features, and/or dimensions. For example: differentiate between crocodiles and alligators, octopuses and squids, etc.
    • Use reinforcement and repetition to enhance learning of this skill.
  • Concrete concept is the ability to identify an object as a member of a group based on common physical characteristics, features, properties, attributes, and/or dimensions (e.g., colors, shapes, length, position, etc.). For example: explain why whether tomatoes are considered vegetables. Learning concrete concepts is more complex than learning discrimination because it requires the ability to identify an object correctly based on its main properties. Students must learn discrimination before they learn concrete concepts. Concrete learning is believed to be a prerequisite to abstract learning .
    • To enhance learning of this skill, present different examples of an object (concept) with a wide variety of irrelevant characteristics and ask students to identify a correct answer.
  • Defined concept is the ability to understand the meaning of an object, event, or/and relation. It requires more than stating a definition or defining a concept. For example: Explain what family, justice, or community means. Although the defined concepts may overlap concrete concepts, the former represents more abstract learning.
    • To enhance learning of this skill, first ask students to recall all components within the definition of a concept, including the relations among those components. Have students watch a demonstration, video, or film on how the concept works.
  • Rule is the ability to understand the relationships among objects and events (concepts). For example: know how to multiply numbers, to construct a sentence, or to play a game.
    • To learn the skill, help students recall the components that make up the rule and their relationships. Clearly communicate the rule to students. Provide guidance (e.g., prompts, cues, strategies) during learning.
  • Problem-solving is the ability to combine different rules to solve a problem.
    • Teach or recall relevant rules and information essential to solving the problem. Offer cues or prompts to help students solve the problem or engage them in discovery learning (guided and unguided) to find a solution.     

Cognitive strategy

Cognitive strategy is another type of intellectual skills for learning and thinking. Learning strategies include rehearsal (verbally repeat, underline, or copy materials), elaboration (associate new information with the existing one through paraphrasing, summarizing, note-taking, and questions and answers), and organizing (arrange materials in an organized and meaningful order through outlining, concept mapping, advance organizer, etc.).

The metacognitive strategies (thinking) involve students setting learning goals, tracking learning progress, and modifying strategies to achieve the goals. The affective strategies are used to focus and maintain attention, to control stress and anxiety, to manage time effectively, and so on.

Verbal information

Verbal information is concerned with the declarative knowledge (e.g., facts, information, names, places, etc.). To assist learning of verbal information, the instructors may teach students different mnemonic techniques (e.g., keyword, loci, imagery, etc.) and help students relate new information to what already exists in memory to make learning meaningful and memorable. Use one of the learning strategies (rehearsal, elaboration, and organize) and provide distinct cues to assist memory. 

Motor skills

Motor skills (also called psychomotor skills) are sequences of motor responses or movements, which are combined into complex performances. These physical performances are assessed by rapidity, accuracy, force, or smoothness. For example: dancing, skateboarding, fly-fishing, skiing, writing with a pencil, etc. The motor skills can be further divided into sub skills (part skills), which are performed simultaneously or in sequential order to produce performances. These skills are best learned by repeated practice.

To teach the part skills, provide clear instructions to learn the skills. Provide a checklist, picture, or diagram to guide learning. Encourage students to practice the skills repeatedly, accompanied by timely and appropriate feedback from the instructor.  

Attitude

Attitude is an internal state that affects personal choices and actions over an object, person, event, and so on. Although it is a complex human state, it can be measured by observing the person's choice or action. The measurement of attitude is often seen in a form of a self-reported questionnaire, which may use Likert-scale and/or open-ended questions. Using a role model has been known to teach attitude effectively. Other methods involve using reinforcement to encourage a desired behavior and using a conditioned response method to promote certain attitudes.

To change attitude, help students recall a situation to which the attitude applies, present an appealing and credible role model, use the model to communicate or demonstrate the desired choices or actions for the given situation, and communicate or demonstrate satisfaction the model obtains as a result of the selected choices or actions.

Reflection

    • What intellectual skills should your students learn in each unit?
    • What cognitive strategy would help your students succeed in your class and in their education?
    • What verbal information must your students learn in each unit?
    • What attitude should your students have or/and develop that would benefit their learning and career?
    • What motor skills do your students need to have to be successful in your class and other classes?

References

  • Gagne, R. M. (1985). The conditions of Learning and theory of instruction (4th ed.). New York, NY: CBS College Publishing.
  • Gagne, R. M., Briggs, L. J., & Wager, W. M. (1992). Principles of instructional design (4th ed.). Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

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