AET/505: The Foundations Of Adult Learning
Adult Learning
April R. Gaines
Mary Joseph-Martin November 25, 2012
AET/505 - FOUNDATIONS OF ADULT EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Adult Learning
Adult learning is a way to separate the way adults learn from the way children learn. Physiologically, learning is the formation of cell assemblies and phase sequences. Children learn by building these assemblies and sequences. Adults spend more time making new arrangements than forming new sequences. They can learn by talking with others. We can easily say, this makes adults to create a connection between differences and similarities. There are many assumptions about adult learning such as adults are self directed, they are goal oriented, adults are …show more content…
relevancy oriented, they are practical and problem solvers, and adults have accumulated life experiences.
Adults are autonomous and self –directed. They need to be free to direct themselves. They must get participants perspectives about what topics to cover and let them know work on projects that reflect their interests. Adults are goal oriented. However, we cannot say the same thing for children. In youth education you have to teach them, in other words you have to give them a lead. Upon enrolling in a course, they usually know what goal they want to attain. Adults have a need to know why they should learn something, therefore they are relevancy oriented. They must see a reason for learning something. Learning has to be applicable to their work or their responsibilities to be of value to them. Adults are practical; focusing on the aspects of a lesson must useful to them in their work. Indeed, they can see the whole picture and they have ability to organize facts and materials well. Adults have accumulated a foundation of life experiences and knowledge that may include work-related activities, family responsibilities, and previous education. They need to connect learning to this knowledge/experience base. Adults bring into a learning situation a back ground of experience that is itself a rich resource for many kinds of learning for themselves and for others. Adults have a broader base of experience to which to attach new ideas and skills and give them richer meaning.
People learn at different speeds and ways, so it is natural for them to be anxious or nervous when faced with a learning situation. Learning speed depends on most likely people’s age. Older learners have slower reaction times than younger learners. People need more time to learn new things as they age. Indeed in English there is an old saying for this statement, “You cannot teach an old dog new tricks”. Few changes have been found in both sensory and short term memory as we age, but long term memory declines. Older adults have harder time acquiring and retrieving information and they experience difficulties in organizing new material and processing it.
There are different styles of learning that people use; there are four main learning styles, auditory, visual, tactile, and kinesthetic.
Your child will learn best through one or more of these learning channels, and you can help him become a successful learner by teaching the child through his primary learning style(s). Auditory activities include reading, listening, hearing, etc. These are channels used in a typical school classroom. When you read, you "hear" the words. The learning style that is good for you may not be so favorable with someone else. We all learn best in our own way, and if you know which way works best for you, then you can learn more and do better in your classes, and in life. A child with significantly impaired movement might find kinesthetic learning channels the most difficult to use. The key is to know what channel is most useful to your child and teach towards that learning style. Most children can learn through all channels and if they are taught through all channels they will have maximized learning because what they don 't get from their main channel, they may get from …show more content…
another.
Due to the characteristics of learning there have been developments of different teaching styles and theories. Theories about adult education have been categorized into four main models. These models would be biological, psychological, sociocultural, and cognitive.
Biological
Growing old is a part of life, and unfortunately with age comes changes.
These changes affect how we learn and take in new information. Our hearing decreases, our eyesight becomes poorer, and the brain becomes slower at absorbing and retaining new information. To accommodate to the more mature adults in the classroom, I would make sure the older adults were closer to me to hear me speak. I would make sure any handouts, homework, or textbooks have a decent sized font that they could read.
Psychological
I believe my philosophy of adult education is Progressivism. I think that John Dewey’s theory that that people are social animals who learn well through active interplay with others and that our learning increases when we are engaged in activities that have meaning for us is an important belief for adults and that that book learning is no substitute for actually doing things. The notion that knowledge is acquired and expanded as we apply our previous experiences to solving new, meaningful problems is a key aspect of adult learning.
Sociocultural
Sociocultural holds on adult learning People are not separated from the contexts in which they live. Understanding the sociohistorical context of adult learners considers culture influences on people thinking, what skills they obtain, when they can participate in certain activities, and who is allowed to do which activities (Miller, 1993). Such an influence highlights different kinds of tools and skills such as verbal or nonverbal, reading, mathematics, or spatial memory, and social interaction because of different cultural needs and values.
Cognitive
Cognitive tools for adults are not necessarily the product of a particular kind of teaching. When an individual grows older there is no question that their way of thinking changes. Cognitive development is how thinking patterns change over time (Merriam and Caffarella, p. 139).
REFERENCES
Robert, L. Craig “Training and Development Handbook,” McGraw-Hill Book Company,
Stephen D. Brookfield, “Understanding and Facilitating Adult Learning: A Comprehensive Analysis of Principles and Effective Practices” Jossey-Bass
Miller, P. (1993). Theories of Developmental Psychology (3rd ed.). New York: W. H. Freeman. *
Merriam, S. B., & Caffarella, R. S. (1999). Learning in adulthood: A comprehensive guide (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
April R. Gaines
Mary Joseph-Martin November 25, 2012
AET/505 - FOUNDATIONS OF ADULT EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Adult Learning
Adult learning is a way to separate the way adults learn from the way children learn. Physiologically, learning is the formation of cell assemblies and phase sequences. Children learn by building these assemblies and sequences. Adults spend more time making new arrangements than forming new sequences. They can learn by talking with others. We can easily say, this makes adults to create a connection between differences and similarities. There are many assumptions about adult learning such as adults are self directed, they are goal oriented, adults are …show more content…
relevancy oriented, they are practical and problem solvers, and adults have accumulated life experiences.
Adults are autonomous and self –directed. They need to be free to direct themselves. They must get participants perspectives about what topics to cover and let them know work on projects that reflect their interests. Adults are goal oriented. However, we cannot say the same thing for children. In youth education you have to teach them, in other words you have to give them a lead. Upon enrolling in a course, they usually know what goal they want to attain. Adults have a need to know why they should learn something, therefore they are relevancy oriented. They must see a reason for learning something. Learning has to be applicable to their work or their responsibilities to be of value to them. Adults are practical; focusing on the aspects of a lesson must useful to them in their work. Indeed, they can see the whole picture and they have ability to organize facts and materials well. Adults have accumulated a foundation of life experiences and knowledge that may include work-related activities, family responsibilities, and previous education. They need to connect learning to this knowledge/experience base. Adults bring into a learning situation a back ground of experience that is itself a rich resource for many kinds of learning for themselves and for others. Adults have a broader base of experience to which to attach new ideas and skills and give them richer meaning.
People learn at different speeds and ways, so it is natural for them to be anxious or nervous when faced with a learning situation. Learning speed depends on most likely people’s age. Older learners have slower reaction times than younger learners. People need more time to learn new things as they age. Indeed in English there is an old saying for this statement, “You cannot teach an old dog new tricks”. Few changes have been found in both sensory and short term memory as we age, but long term memory declines. Older adults have harder time acquiring and retrieving information and they experience difficulties in organizing new material and processing it.
There are different styles of learning that people use; there are four main learning styles, auditory, visual, tactile, and kinesthetic.
Your child will learn best through one or more of these learning channels, and you can help him become a successful learner by teaching the child through his primary learning style(s). Auditory activities include reading, listening, hearing, etc. These are channels used in a typical school classroom. When you read, you "hear" the words. The learning style that is good for you may not be so favorable with someone else. We all learn best in our own way, and if you know which way works best for you, then you can learn more and do better in your classes, and in life. A child with significantly impaired movement might find kinesthetic learning channels the most difficult to use. The key is to know what channel is most useful to your child and teach towards that learning style. Most children can learn through all channels and if they are taught through all channels they will have maximized learning because what they don 't get from their main channel, they may get from …show more content…
another.
Due to the characteristics of learning there have been developments of different teaching styles and theories. Theories about adult education have been categorized into four main models. These models would be biological, psychological, sociocultural, and cognitive.
Biological
Growing old is a part of life, and unfortunately with age comes changes.
These changes affect how we learn and take in new information. Our hearing decreases, our eyesight becomes poorer, and the brain becomes slower at absorbing and retaining new information. To accommodate to the more mature adults in the classroom, I would make sure the older adults were closer to me to hear me speak. I would make sure any handouts, homework, or textbooks have a decent sized font that they could read.
Psychological
I believe my philosophy of adult education is Progressivism. I think that John Dewey’s theory that that people are social animals who learn well through active interplay with others and that our learning increases when we are engaged in activities that have meaning for us is an important belief for adults and that that book learning is no substitute for actually doing things. The notion that knowledge is acquired and expanded as we apply our previous experiences to solving new, meaningful problems is a key aspect of adult learning.
Sociocultural
Sociocultural holds on adult learning People are not separated from the contexts in which they live. Understanding the sociohistorical context of adult learners considers culture influences on people thinking, what skills they obtain, when they can participate in certain activities, and who is allowed to do which activities (Miller, 1993). Such an influence highlights different kinds of tools and skills such as verbal or nonverbal, reading, mathematics, or spatial memory, and social interaction because of different cultural needs and values.
Cognitive
Cognitive tools for adults are not necessarily the product of a particular kind of teaching. When an individual grows older there is no question that their way of thinking changes. Cognitive development is how thinking patterns change over time (Merriam and Caffarella, p. 139).
REFERENCES
Robert, L. Craig “Training and Development Handbook,” McGraw-Hill Book Company,
Stephen D. Brookfield, “Understanding and Facilitating Adult Learning: A Comprehensive Analysis of Principles and Effective Practices” Jossey-Bass
Miller, P. (1993). Theories of Developmental Psychology (3rd ed.). New York: W. H. Freeman. *
Merriam, S. B., & Caffarella, R. S. (1999). Learning in adulthood: A comprehensive guide (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.