The Nine Events: An Overview

The Complete Framework

Before diving deep into each event, let's see the entire framework together—what each event accomplishes, how they connect, and why the sequence matters.

The Nine Events at a Glance

Event 1: Gain Attention

Purpose: Capture learner focus and signal that what follows is important.

Cognitive Process: Reception—stimuli entering the cognitive system.

Why It Matters: If learners aren't attending, nothing else matters. Information that isn't received can't be processed.

Techniques:

• Provocative questions
• Surprising statistics
• Relevant scenarios
• Multimedia hooks
• Physical change or activity

Common Mistake: Skipping attention-getters and starting with housekeeping or "Today we will cover..."

Event 2: Inform Learners of the Objective

Purpose: Tell learners what they'll be able to DO after instruction and how they'll know they've succeeded.

Cognitive Process: Expectancy—activating goal-directed processing.

Why It Matters: When learners know the target, they process information more strategically. Objectives enable self-monitoring.

Effective Objectives Include:

• Performance: What learners will do
• Conditions: Under what circumstances
• Criteria: How well they must perform

Common Mistake: Vague objectives like "understand" or "appreciate" that can't be observed or measured.

Event 3: Stimulate Recall of Prior Learning

Purpose: Activate relevant existing knowledge before presenting new content.

Cognitive Process: Retrieval—bringing stored knowledge into working memory.

Why It Matters: New information is understood in relation to what learners already know. Activating relevant schemas creates hooks for new content.

Techniques:

• Quick questions about prerequisite concepts
• Brainstorming what learners already know
• Brief review of connected content
• Analogies to familiar situations

Common Mistake: Assuming prior knowledge is present and activated without checking.

Event 4: Present the Content

Purpose: Deliver new information in ways that enable processing.

Cognitive Process: Selective perception—filtering and encoding important information.

Why It Matters: Content must be presented within working memory limits, organized for comprehension, and signaled for importance.

Key Principles:

• Chunk information (no more than 4-5 points at a time)
• Use multiple modalities (visual + verbal)
• Signal what's important
• Include processing activities between chunks

Common Mistake: Dumping too much content without breaks for processing.

Event 5: Provide Learning Guidance

Purpose: Help learners encode information meaningfully and durably.

Cognitive Process: Semantic encoding—creating meaningful memory traces.

Techniques:

• Worked examples
• Analogies and metaphors
• Graphic organizers
• Mnemonics
• Scaffolds and templates

Why It Matters: Guidance structures understanding and provides handles for memory. Without it, learners may encode incorrectly or shallowly.

Common Mistake: Presenting information without tools for organizing or remembering it.

Event 6: Elicit Performance

Purpose: Have learners actively practice what they're learning.

Cognitive Process: Responding—generating output that demonstrates understanding.

Why It Matters: Practice is how learning consolidates. Passive reception is not enough; learners must actively retrieve and apply.

Key Principles:

• Practice must match objectives
• Progress from guided to independent
• Provide sufficient repetition
• Vary contexts and examples

Common Mistake: Insufficient practice time; moving to assessment before learners have practiced enough.

Event 7: Provide Feedback

Purpose: Give learners immediate, specific information about their performance.

Cognitive Process: Reinforcement—confirming correct responses or redirecting incorrect ones.

Effective Feedback Is:

• Timely (as close to performance as possible)
• Specific (about what was correct or incorrect)
• Corrective (guides toward right answer, not just "wrong")
• Actionable (learner can use it to improve)

Common Mistake: Delayed feedback or feedback that only says "correct" or "incorrect" without explanation.

Event 8: Assess Performance

Purpose: Verify that learners have achieved the objectives.

Cognitive Process: Retrieval under assessment conditions.

Why It Matters: Assessment confirms learning before moving on. It also provides data about instructional effectiveness.

Key Principles:

• Assessment must match objectives
• Require demonstration, not just recognition
• Remove scaffolds used during learning
• Provide clear success criteria

Common Mistake: Assessments that don't match what was taught or that test recognition when application was the goal.

Event 9: Enhance Retention and Transfer

Purpose: Help learners remember and apply learning in new contexts.

Cognitive Process: Generalization—applying learning beyond the original context.

Techniques:

• Spaced practice over time
• Varied application contexts
• Reflection on when and where to apply
• Job aids and reference materials
• Follow-up activities

Why It Matters: Learning that doesn't transfer is wasted. Event 9 bridges instruction to application.

Common Mistake: Ending instruction at assessment without planning for real-world application.

How the Events Connect

The events aren't isolated steps—they form a coherent system:

Events 1-3 (Preparation Phase): Prepare the learner to receive new information

• Attention → Reception is possible
• Objectives → Learner knows the target
• Recall → Relevant knowledge is activated

Events 4-5 (Acquisition Phase): Deliver and support new content

• Content → Information is presented
• Guidance → Encoding is supported

Events 6-7 (Performance Phase): Enable and refine practice

• Practice → Learner actively applies
• Feedback → Performance improves

Events 8-9 (Verification and Transfer Phase): Confirm and extend

• Assessment → Mastery is verified
• Transfer → Application is supported

Skip any event, and you leave a cognitive process unsupported. Learning becomes less reliable.

The Iterative Nature

For complex content, events 4-7 often repeat in cycles:

Present Content Chunk 1 → Provide Guidance → Practice → Feedback
Present Content Chunk 2 → Provide Guidance → Practice → Feedback
Present Content Chunk 3 → Provide Guidance → Practice → Feedback

Each chunk gets its own mini-cycle before assessment covers the whole.

Common Patterns of Failure

The Front-Heavy Lesson: Events 1-5 are well-developed; Events 6-9 are rushed or skipped. Result: Learners receive information but don't practice or apply it.

The Assessment Mismatch: Objectives say "apply," but assessment tests "recall." Result: Learning may have occurred, but we can't verify it.

The Missing Transfer: Instruction ends at assessment with no support for real-world application. Result: Learning decays without use.

The Attention Assumption: Instruction begins with content, assuming attention. Result: Learners aren't cognitively ready.

Key Takeaways

• The nine events support specific cognitive processes required for learning
• Events form a coherent system: Preparation → Acquisition → Performance → Transfer
• Skip an event, and a cognitive process goes unsupported
• Complex content requires iterating Events 4-7 for each chunk
• Common failures: front-heavy lessons, assessment mismatches, missing transfer
• The framework is flexible but complete—adapt timing, not the sequence