Selecting and sequencing content for Lessons

In this section, we'll discuss the best way to select content for your Lessons and how to arrange it so that the students naturally progress towards the kinds of competence they need to demonstrate when they get ready for their final assessments.

Create conditions for learning

Everyone has experienced the pain of a bad lecture when there is just absolutely nothing that reaches out and captures your imagination. You squirm, you daydream, and then, when it's over, you can't recall a single thing that was said. In that situation, you can safely say that not much learning took place, not just because the delivery might have been ineffectual, but even more compellingly because the speaker failed to connect with their audience.

Educational psychologist Robert Gagne studied the problem of developing ideal learning conditions and, after years of research, published his findings in a book titled Conditions of Learning released in 1965. Basically...