ABSTRACT
When an instructional objective indicates that the learner will use a concept, apply a rule, or solve a problem, a learning hierarchy analysis can pinpoint the prerequisite skills to perform that objective. A learning hierarchy depicts these prerequisites in an ordered hierarchical relationship. The lowest skills on the chart will be learned before the higher-ranking ones, up to the terminal objective. These lower-level skills are prerequisite to the higher level skill. That is why learning hierarchy analysis is often referred to as prerequisites analysis. Generations of instructional designers have used learning hierarchies to answer the question “what must be learned in order to learn the terminal objective?” It has also been used to diagnose failures in learning by identifying the prerequisites that learners failed to master.
