Many of the theories about adult learners that "Brief Guide for Teaching Adult Learners" (Fleming & Garner) details are familiar to me from my children's education. Their elementary school was founded on the principles of John Dewey and on constructivism, where the student is at the center. I watched my children learn through hands-on exercises, self-directed and group projects, and with lots of in-class discussion about what and why they were learning.
Student-centered learning seems to be very respectful of the student, treating him or her as more than a passive child. So it surprised me to read that these notions were so new to adult education. But from the little I have learned so far, the academic field of adult learning itself is fairly new and under-researched. Another reason more progressive notions have taken a while to take hold in adult education is that teachers of adults may tend to use the methods that those students might already be familiar with--the more traditional teacher-centered ones. While group work and non-traditional activities (small group discussion, writing a TV commercial, a poem etc.) may be more lively and engaging in the long run, they may also be off-putting to and devalued by an adult with no experience in them.
While I am familiar with constructivist practices from my children's education, it is new to my own. Reflecting on my own learning, I see that I still enjoy traditional exercises like lectures, power-point presentations, and so on, and that writing mediates my best learning. The traditional methods of my own early education are partly responsible, but it is also likely due to the role writing has always played in my life. So I look forward to the group projects in this class and in my Second Language Learner class as an opportunity to move out of my comfort zone and to learn in a new way.
Hi Karen, You are right: one strong strand of children's education has been influenced by John Dewey and progressive education. Of course, not all of children's education has been progressive. The skill and drill approached thrived for a long time and traces of that approach are still with us. Adult education's professionalization really took hold when Malcolm Knowles argued that there are distinctions between child learning and adult learning, and that there is a distinct need for different approaches to educating adults. These ideas are not particularly new. Knowles first published his ideas in the 1960s.
ReplyDelete