ROBERT M. GAGNÉ: BIOGRAPHY AND CONSTRUCTIVIST THEORY OF LEARNING - GEOGRAFÍA - 2025

Robert M. Gagné was an American educational psychologist known for his work on human learning. His theory, often referred to as "the Gagné assumption," is one of the most important in this field of human behavioral science, and is still used today.

Robert Mills Gagné was born in 1916 and passed away in 2002. His best known work is his book Conditions of Learning. Its main theory is that there are different types of learning, and that depending on the environmental conditions that occur, one or the other will be activated at all times.

This American psychologist worked in many fields. For example, he developed a training system for air force pilots. He was also one of the pioneers in applying new technologies to the field of education, creating computer-based programs and multimedia content.

After his death, various psychology associations around the world recognized his merits as one of the greatest exponents of the field of education. In this article we will talk about both his life and his theories, which are still valid today.

Biography

Early years

Robert M. Gagné was born on August 21, 1916, in North Andover, Massachusetts. Already during his early years, he became interested in human behavior; and during his high school years he decided to pursue psychology as a profession. In his commencement speech, he said that this science should be used to alleviate people's suffering.

In 1937 he managed to graduate from Yale University, and later obtained his doctorate from Brown in 1940. At both universities, two of the most prestigious in the country, Gagné studied psychology with a particular focus on the field of education. For his thesis, he studied operant conditioning processes in experiments with rats.

His early studies of psychology with people rather than animals were interrupted by World War II. During the first year of the conflict, she went to work at the No. 1 Psychological Research Unit in Maxwell Field, Alabama, where she was in charge of taking aptitude tests to select valid candidates for pilot.

Later, he was assigned to officer school in Miami Beach; but he was soon promoted to second lieutenant, and assigned to the School of Aviation Medicine, in Fort Worth, Texas. However, his passion remained research and teaching psychology at the university level.

Shortly after, Robert M. Gagné began working as a professor of psychology (again specializing in the educational branch) at various universities. His first job in this field was at the University of Connecticut for Women in 1940. From this point on, he rose rapidly within this field.

Research career

Robert M. Gagné began teaching at Pennsylvania State University in 1945; and in the 1960s he took up teaching positions at Princeton and Berkeley, California.

During this time, he also continued working as head of research for the Air Force, beginning his career in the development of educational theories there.

In 1949, this psychologist accepted an offer to join an organization within the Air Force that would later become the Research Center for Air Force Personnel Training. There, he acceded to the position of director of research at the Perceptual and Motor Skills Laboratory.

Once he arrived at Princeton in 1958, his research left the field of perception aside and focused on acquiring problem-solving skills and learning mathematics.

After a few years in this position, in 1962 he joined the American Institutes for Research, where he wrote The Conditions of Learning.

In this book, he laid out his theory on the different types of learning that he believed existed. His success was resounding within educational psychology circles, and he gained considerable fame in this field. In fact, he had to publish several reissues throughout his life.

After this, he continued researching and working as a professor, primarily at the University of California, Berkeley. Among his other publications is the scientific article Instructional Psychology, and the book Principles of Learning, in which he worked with the psychologist LJ Briggs.

Theory

Robert M. Gagné is especially known for having developed a constructivist theory of learning. This American psychologist believed that knowledge is created due to the interrelation between a person and the environment in which he is.

Thus, the environment is capable of producing changes in our behavior, attitudes and thoughts. These changes, moreover, are maintained over time most of the time, mainly because we have similar experiences over and over again. However, when our environment changes, our knowledge also changes.

Motivation and emotion in learning

On the other hand, Gagné was also one of the first psychologists to talk about the importance of our mental state when it comes to remembering an experience or a lesson.

For this researcher, the information we receive through our senses will only be stored if one of two conditions is met.

The first possible condition is that the situation we are experiencing corresponds to other similar ones that we have experienced in the past. When this happens enough times, our brain stores the information and produces a change in our behavior or way of thinking or feeling.

On the other hand, learning can occur when the situation is accompanied by a strong emotional charge. In this case, we interpret that what happens to us is important, and we generate new knowledge to be able to face similar situations in the best possible way in the future.

Thus, for Robert M. Gagné, learning only occurs if there is a clear motivation for it: either the constant repetition of the same situation, or the appearance of a circumstance that generates a lot of discomfort or pleasure and that therefore is considered important.

Types of learning according to Gagné

In his attempt to better understand the learning process, this American psychologist tried to create a classification of all the types of knowledge that it is possible to create.

Thus, Gagné spoke of five types of new responses that can be generated when we encounter a situation that requires it.

The five types of learning described by Robert M. Gagné are as follows: motor skills, verbal information, intellectual skills, cognitive skills and strategies, and attitudes. Next we will see what each of them consists of.

Motor skills

Motor skills are one of the first types of learning we do, and also one of the most common. Skills such as walking, driving or doing any type of sport belong to this category. On the other hand, many other learning (such as writing or speaking) also have part of motor skills.

Verbal information

The second type of learning has to do with memorizing verbal data, such as information about historical places or events, names, movie plots… Much of the educational system is based on generating new knowledge of this type.

Intellectual skills

Intellectual skills include all those processes in which it is necessary to use our intelligence to solve a problem, interpret reality, or create or understand symbols. For example, reading or math is based entirely on this type of knowledge.

Cognitive skills and strategies

Cognitive skills and strategies have to do with the ability to choose the behavior that best suits a specific situation we are experiencing, from a repertoire of possible ways of acting.

They also have to do with the way we interpret the information we receive, and with the way we use logic.

Attitudes

Attitudes are mental states that determine the way in which we behave towards a situation, an object or a person. It is about the predisposition that we have to act in one way or another, and also includes the beliefs that we have about any element of what surrounds us.

How the learning process works

Finally, Robert M. Gagné also tried to understand the different stages that information goes through before becoming new knowledge. One of the most important parts of his theory of learning was precisely the one in charge of describing the phases of it.

Thus, Gagné believed that our mind has to go through eight different phases before generating new learning: motivation, apprehension, acquisition, retention, retrieval, generalization, performance, and feedback. They are all equally important, and the order cannot be altered.

The intention of this American psychologist was to understand the learning process of people in order to design teaching programs that were more effective. In fact, throughout his career he was applying what he was discovering to improve his educational methods and those of his colleagues.

Robert M. Gagné's theory of learning is still valid today, and is one of the most important in educational psychology.

References

1. "Conditions of Learning (Robert Gagne)" in: Instructional Design. Retrieved on: January 13, 2019 from Instructional Design: instructionaldesign.org.
2. "Robert Mills Gagné" in: Encyclopedia. Retrieved on: January 13, 2019 from Encyclopedia: encyclopedia.com.
3. "In Appreciation: Robert Mills Gagne (1916 - 2002)" in: Association for Psychological Science. Retrieved on: January 13, 2019 from Association for Psychological Science: psychologicalscience.org.
4. "Robert Gagné's theory of learning" in: Psychology and Mind. Retrieved on: January 13, 2019 from Psychology and Mind: psicologiaymente.com.
5. "Robert M. Gagné" in: Wikipedia. Retrieved: January 13, 2019 from Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org.