Paul+-+Article+Review

Paul Dagnall - Article Review
In the Malcolm Knowles on Adult Learning article, four (actually five) crucial assumptions are made about adult learners. I'm going to highliht the fourth assumption: Orientation to learning.

"//As a person matures his time perspective changes from one of postponed application of knowledge to immediacy of application, and accordingly his orientation toward learning shifts from one of subject-centeredness to one of problem centredness.//"


 * Source: ** Smith, M. K. (1996; 1999) 'Andragogy', the encyclopaedia of informal education, http://www.infed.org/lifelonglearning/b-andra.htm. Last update: September 07, 2009.

Immediately, I'm reminded of hearing my ninth grade classmates complain that they would NEVER use algebra and that it was so pointless to learn. Likewise, school children frequently don't see the point of studying history, literature, biology, or anything else besides what truly interests them.

I believe Knowles makes a fairly valid generalization by stating an adult's learning perspective is geared toward immediate goals and solving problems. Adult frequently seek education to improve their lot and so there is no time for postponed application. It's go time. Again, this is just generalization.

In my field of computer science, adults frequently must learn new things because technology is constantly changing. I found a book that makes a fantastic illustration on the motivations of adult learners:

//"How does your brain know what's important? Suppose you're out for a day hike and a tiger jumps in front of you, what happens inside your head an body?//

//Nearons fire. Emotions crank up. Chemicals surge.//

//And that's how your brain knows what's important."//

The writer goes on to contrast how our brains struggle to natively find "importance" when studying boring text at home or in a library.


 * Source: ** Freeman, Elisabeth, Freeman, Eric, Bates, B., T., & Sierra, K. (2004). Head First Design Patterns, xxvii.

The point is, when educating adults, **we need to show them some tigers**. Figure out what's important, what matters to them, what helps them TODAY.