Gearing the Demands of Instruction to the Developmental Capacities of the Learner

From the viewpoint of instructional design, one of the most powerful models of learning is the theory that has been advanced by Gagné (1962, 1968, 1970, Note 1). According to Gagné's model, the acquisition of a complex concept or skill is a hierarchical process, in which lower order concepts or skills are gradually integrated to form higher order ones. The implication of this conception is that good instruction should be preceded by task analysis. The instructional designer should map out the hierarchical structure underlying the objective to be attained, determine which of the prerequisite concepts or skills the learner already possesses, and then plan a series of activities that will lead the learner from his present position in the hierarchy to the terminal objective, via the set of intermediate steps indicated by the analysis. Although Gagné's model of learning and instruction is a powerful one, the thesis of the present article is that it needs to be expanded if it is to account for the facts of intellectual development, or if it is to be applied to the task of designing effective instruction for children whose cognitive capacities have not yet

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