Born in 1916 in North Andover, MA

Theory: Conditions of Learning

He has interpreted and applied the findings from his learning theory and research, mostly to school learning, to influence the information processing view of learning and memory.

In his discoveries, Gagne has reveiled that there are five major categories of learning:
1. verbal information
2. intellectual skills
3. cognitive strategies
4. motor skills
5. attitudes

Gagne suggests that in order to learn, there must be ample internal and external conditions. In other words, to learn in a particular way, a person must be exposed that that form of learning. He or she must be given a chance to learn by that method.

In addition, Gagne provides nine instructional events that must take place for learning to succeed:
1. gaining attention (reception)
2. informing learners of the objective (expectancy)
3. stimulating recall of prior learning (retrieval)
4. presenting the stimulus (selective perception)
5. providing learning guidance (semantic encoding)
6. eliciting performance (responding)
7. providing feedback (reinforcement)
8. assessing performance (retrieval)
9. enhancing retention and transfer (generalization).