Which will be the correct hierarchical sequencing for the following types of…

Concept

Robert Gagne arranged learning into a cumulative hierarchy in which each higher type of learning presupposes that the learner has already mastered all the simpler types below it. The order runs from the most basic conditioned responses up to the most complex cognitive activity, so any correct sequencing must move from the simplest form of learning to the most demanding one.

Application

Place each of the five listed types on Gagne's ladder, from simplest to most complex:

1. Sign learning (signal learning) - the most elementary type, an involuntary conditioned response to a signal; it sits at the bottom.

2. Discrimination learning - the learner now tells apart similar stimuli and responds differently to each, a step above simple signal response.

3. Concept learning - the learner groups discriminated objects or events into a common class, which requires discrimination to already be in place.

4. Rule learning - the learner relates two or more concepts to form a principle, so concepts must exist first.

5. Problem solving - the highest type, in which several rules are combined to reach a novel solution; it depends on all the lower types.

Reading the ladder from bottom to top gives the sequence Sign, Discrimination, Concept, Rule, Problem solving, i.e. (B), (A), (C), (E) and (D).

Cross-check

Each step strictly builds on the one before it: you cannot form a concept without first discriminating, cannot state a rule without concepts, and cannot solve a problem without rules. The sequence (B), (A), (C), (E) and (D) is the only offered ordering that respects this simple-to-complex dependency, confirming it is correct.