Although higher education understands the need to develop critical thinkers, it has not lived up to the task consistently. Students are graduating deficient in these skills, unprepared to think critically once in the workforce. Limited development of cognitive processing skills leads to less effective leaders. Various definitions of critical…

The history of Vocational Guidance has produced a broad, rich set of theorizations and interventions as well as substantial literature. Many of these contributions arose in response to the needs of society: from the first conceptions of Parsons, followed by lifespan career development proposals, up to the current contextualist and constructivist…

Development of knowledge occurs through participation in social practices throughout life. Knowledge is constructed through engagement in problem solving; knowledge has conceptual, procedural, and dispositional dimensions; and the nature of the problem and different social practices influence the type of knowledge that is constructed. (SK)

Integration of the cognitive psychology and sociocultural constructivist perspectives yields a more comprehensive account of adult thinking and acting. This synthesis is based on a view of individual knowledge acquisition as a socially mediated process and on ontogeny or life-history approach. (SK)

The study was conducted in response to the need for an increased understanding of the aging experiences of women transitioning midlife. The purpose of the research was to explore the personal understanding of the changes that occur during the midlife period. A qualitative case study was implemented to ascertain how women of the Latter-day Saint…

Reflective journal writing helps individuals garner information about themselves and construct larger meanings. Techniques include freewriting; list making; describing one-minute in-depth, writing dialogues; and envisioning the future. (SK)

The authors argue that unlike their younger counterparts, who experience their young adult development within a dual-identity or bicultural framework, older, African American, gay men experience their development through 3 distinct cultural perspectives. Using a constructivist framework, the authors explore this tricultural development and make…

This paper considers how establishing and maintaining the student-teacher relationship can be epistemologically transforming for both college students and faculty. The paper draws on a constructivist-developmental theory of self and cognitive development, knowledge construction, and the author's own teaching experiences. First, underlying…

Recent discoveries about brain function explain how best practices in adult learning may lead to adult learners' developmental growth.

Until very recently, with the exception of adult religious education, spirituality has been given little attention in mainstream academic adult education. This may be because spirituality is difficult to define and can be confused with religion. The subject of spirituality is currently a theme in workplace and human resource development…

Nineteen papers concerning various aspects of distance education and distance education research are presented in this document. The papers are: (1) "Introduction, Celebrating Difference in Research in Distance Education" (Terry Evans); (2) "Discourse or Discord? A Dilemma of Distance Education" (Philip Juler); (3)…

This book is designed to influence adult educators to make more intentional choices toward developmental growth in their work with adult learners. Part 1 provides a rationale for attending to developmental growth of adult learners and a framework of intentions to encourage such development. Chapter 1 describes characteristics of adult learners and…

There is dissonance between the lives of adult students in rural Nepal in a subsistence-level agrarian community and their participation in school. The concept of "transfer" has several shortcomings from the standpoint of understanding relations between mathematical reasoning in the classroom and in the workplace. It is more helpful to…

The Equipped for the Future (EFF) initiative asked adult learners to describe the knowledge and skills needed to fulfill their roles as parents, citizens, and workers and identified these four purposes: to provide access to information; to give voice to their ideas and opinions, to take action to solve problems, and to provide a bridge to the…

Increasingly, adult educators are using narrative and stories for many reasons, including their deep appeal, satisfaction, and cultural transcendence. As a fundamental structure of human meaning making narrative is a valuable classroom tool in that it can enable students to understand life events, personal actions, and solidify identity formation.…