Comprehensive and Detailed Explanation:

Practical skill acquisition focuses on hands-on practice to ensure learners achieve mastery and consistency. This is central to Gagné's Nine Events of Instruction, which emphasize active learning strategies.

1. Relevance of Practice in Gagné’s Model:

Gagné's Event 6: Elicit Performance (Practice) highlights that learners must perform the skills themselves to solidify learning.

Practical application is critical to achieving competence, especially for motor or procedural skills. It allows learners to identify gaps and refine their performance through repetition.

2. Why Option A is Correct:

Practicing skills ensures that learners can consistently perform the task correctly. Repeated application:

Reinforces memory.

Builds muscle memory for physical tasks.

Promotes confidence and accuracy.

Consistency is the key indicator of mastery for practical skills.

3. Analysis of Other Options:

Option B: Observing repeated demonstrations of the skill by the instructor.

Observing demonstrations is useful for understanding, but it does not substitute for hands-on practice. Learners must engage actively to develop the skills themselves.

Option C: Group discussion of how to learn the new skills.

Discussion may help learners understand the steps or importance of the skill but does not directly contribute to skill mastery.

Option D: Presentation of how the new skills relate to the organizational change.

While this provides context, it does not help learners physically or cognitively practice the skill.

4. Practical Example:

In a training session for operating new machinery, learners achieve the best outcomes by practicing with the equipment until they can operate it confidently and consistently.

5. Reference to Gagné’s Model:

Event 6: Elicit Performance (Practice) emphasizes the importance of active learner participation to reinforce learning and ensure skill mastery.