One way to approach the question of whether teaching adults is different is by examining the types of learning in which adults engage. Adult learning has been classified as subject oriented, consumer oriented, and emancipatory. Only emancipatory education has been described as unique to adulthood, but even that claim has been challenged. As a…

Malcolm Knowles is attributed with developing the most cogent model underlying the assumption that teaching adults should differ from teaching children and adolescents. His andragogical model is based on the premise that adult learning differs from preadult learning. Two studies have examined whether teachers do actually use a different style when…

Three areas of the literature on adult learning showing recent activity are transformative learning (TL), adult learning related to technology, and collaborative/group learning. Recent publications on TL include a critical review of the literature, discussion of TL's relationship to adult development, and description of TL in practice.…

Contextual learning is rooted in a constructivist approach to teaching and learning. According to constructivist theory, individuals learn by constructing meaning through interacting with and interpreting their environments. Current perspectives on what it means for learning to be contextualized include the following: situated cognition, social…

The objectives of adult civic education were examined, and recommendations for its effective practice were offered to educators. The following purposes of adult civic education were discussed: inform learners of the rights and responsibilities of citizenship; explain how citizens participate in building a society by making informed decisions; and…

Metacognition refers to the ability of learners to be aware of and monitor their learning processes. Cognitive skills are those needed to perform a task, whereas metacognitive skills are necessary to understand how it was performed. Metacognitive skills are generally divided into two types: self-assessment (the ability to assess one's own…

Research on various facets of adult learners' experiences in postsecondary education has established the following facts: (1) instructors who help adult learners connect their real-world experiences and what they already know to what they are learning in the classroom are perceived as most helpful and motivating; (2) adult undergraduates generally…

In adult education, the term "accelerated learning" (AL) is usually associated with programs designed to meet the needs of adult learners whose many commitments prevent them from participating in traditional programs. Within the field of training and development, however, AL identifies an approach to learning that is multidimensional in…