The Other Gagne

You are probably familiar with Robert Gagne, the educational psychologist who identified the events of good instruction and a key contributor in the early days of what was called computer-based instruction. Less well-known is his daughter, Ellen Gagne, whom I had as a professor way back in graduate school at the University of Texas, Austin.

Ellen was an excellent instructor of Cognitive Psychology. She used instructional strategies that almost guaranteed her students would grasp the subject (if they applied themselves). That’s what you would expect from a professor in her field and she didn’t disappoint. I have to admit, I was pretty enthralled to have the junior Gagne in front of the class. On the first day, she told us she wasn’t going to be teaching her father’s theories and that was that. She didn’t need to, as she was a solid researcher and author in her own right.

I’m not just reminiscing here. I wanted to let you know about her book, The Cognitive Psychology of School Learning, which is out of print but still available online. Although the text was written for the classroom teacher, it’s a great way to learn the basic concepts of cognitive psychology.

The book covers how we represent knowledge, the differences between declarative and procedural knowledge, problem solving, learning transfer and more. The picture here is my beat up copy of the first edition. I see the second edition is being sold on Amazon in both versions—new (a huge range of prices) and used (at ridiculously cheap prices). Although some concepts are probably dated, the general content still seems solid.

This is today’s recommendation. Sorry, no plans to have one tomorrow.
Cognitive Psychology of School Learning, The (2nd Edition)