Enhance Course Flow with Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction

Are you familiar with the saying “time flies when you’re having fun”? There’s a scientific explanation for this: enjoyable events trigger an increase in dopamine production, and it may cause our internal clock to slow down, creating a sense of accelerating time (Simen & Matell, 2016). This perceived enjoyment has a vital role in learning and memory storage and retrieval (Johnson, 2024; McGaugh, 2015; Kensinger, 2009; Hennings, 2021; Pekrun, 2011; Meneses, 2012).

Effective instructional design considers both the internal conditions of the learner, such as emotional state, focus, motivation, prior knowledge, and external factors like the learning environment and available tools. One systematic approach that synthesizes these elements is Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction, a model rooted in an information processing framework (Khadjooi, 2011). It consists of:

1. Gaining the attention of the learners

2. Inform the learners of the objectives

3. Stimulate recall of prior learning

4. Present the content

5. Provide learning guidance

6. Elicit performance (practice)

7. Provide feedback

8. Assess performance

9. Enhance retention and transfer

As a graduate student, I noticed that in two of my classes, the professors systematically structured the learning activities, or “learning events,” resulting in a coherent and enjoyable experience. Two hours pass in the blink of an eye, and I get out of class with more knowledge and excitement for the next class.

For example, when we learn about “Complex Cognition” in the Foundations of Cognitive Science course, Professor Meagan Bromley starts the class and gains our attention by playing the “Lost at Sea” game, a simple but relevant collaborative game about problem-solving and critical thinking. Professor Safinah Ali always stimulates recall of prior learning by using the think-pair-share strategy with the prompt “Speculate a future use of AI technology based on last week’s topic” in our Experience Design and Artificial Intelligence course.

To learn more about Gagne's Events, check out the video below:

NYU SPS faculty who need assistance applying Gagne's Nine Events of Instruction to their course design, can contact the NYU SPS Nexus Team at nexus@nyu.edu.

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References

Hennings, A. C., Lewis-Peacock, J. A., & Dunsmoor, J. E. (2021). Emotional learning retroactively enhances item memory but distorts source attribution. Learning & Memory, 28(6), 178-186. https://doi.org/10.1101/lm.053371.120

Johnson, J. (2024). Effect of emotions on learning, memory, and disorders associated with the changes in expression levels: A narrative review. Brain circulation, 10(2), 134–144. https://doi.org/10.4103/bc.bc_86_23

Kensinger, E. A. (2009). Remembering the details: Effects of emotion. Emotion review, 1(2), 99-113. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073908100432

Khadjooi, K., Rostami, K., & Ishaq, S. (2011). How to use Gagne's model of instructional design in teaching psychomotor skills. Gastroenterology and hepatology from bed to bench, 4(3), 116–119.

McGaugh, J. L. (2015). Consolidating memories. Annual review of psychology, 66(1), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010814-014954

Meneses, A., & Liy-Salmeron, G. (2012). Serotonin and emotion, learning and memory. Reviews in the Neurosciences, 23(5-6), 543-553. https://doi.org/10.1515/revneuro-2012-0060

Pekrun, R., Calvo, R. A., & D'Mello, S. K. (2011). New perspectives on affect and learning technologies. In New perspectives on affect and learning technologies (pp. 23-39). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9625-1_3

Simen, P., & Matell, M. (2016). Why does time seem to fly when we're having fun?. Science (New York, N.Y.), 354(6317), 1231–1232. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aal4021