ADULT LEARNING

Adult Learning Theory-Andragogy

Andragogy
✔ Term used by Malcolm Shepherd Knowles (1913 – 1997)
✔ synonymous to adult education
✔ the art and science of adult learning

Pedagogy
✔ Child learning
 Knowles’ 5 Assumptions Of Adult Learners

Self-Concept
► As a person matures his/her self concept moves from one of being a dependent
personality toward one of being a self-directed human being.
Adult Learner Experience
► As a person matures he/she accumulates a growing reservoir of experience that
becomes an increasing resource for learning.
Readiness to Learn
► As a person matures his/her readiness to learn becomes oriented increasingly to
the developmental tasks of his/her social roles
Orientation to Learning
► As a person matures his/her time perspective changes from one of postponed
application of knowledge to immediacy of application. As a result his/her
orientation toward learning shifts from one of subject- centeredness to one of
problem centeredness.
Motivation to Learn
► As a person matures the motivation to learn is internal
 Adult Learning
vs
Childhood Learning
 Childhood Learning Adult Learning
✔ Rote memory ✔ Conceptual
✔ Repetition ✔ Contextual
✔ Testing as feedback ✔ Continuous
✔ Gathering building ✔ Horizontal and
blocks integrated
✔ Vertical and additive

pedagogy andragogy
 Comparison of Pedagogy to
Andragogy
ASSUMPTIONS PEDAGOGY ANDRAGOGY
Learn what the teacher Need to know why they
NEED TO KNOW
wants them to learn need to learn something.
Perception of being
Feel responsible for their
SELF CONCEPT dependent on the teacher
own learning.
for learning
The teacher’s experience,
Adults learn from each
ROLE OF EXPERIENCE not the children’s is what
other’s experience.
counts.
Must be ready when the
Ready to learn when they
READINESS TO LEARN teacher says they must or
feel the need to know.
they will not be promoted.
ORIENTATION TO Subject-centered Life-centered or task-
LEARNING orientation. centered orientation
Primarily internally
MOTIVATION Externally motivated motivated, with some
external motivation.
 Learning Propositions
✔Based from Book of Andragogy
Authors:
⮚Watson
⮚Knowles
⮚Holton
⮚Swanson
 Learning Propositions

1. “Behaviors which are rewarded

(reinforced) are most likely to
occur.” -Watson
 Learning Propositions

2. “Sheer repetition without

indications of improvement or any
kind of reinforcement is a poor way
to attempt to learn” –Watson
 Learning Propositions

3. “Threat and punishment have

variable and uncertain effects upon
learning; they may make the
punished response more likely or
less likely to recur; they may set up
avoidance tendencies which
prevent further learning.” –Watson
 Learning Propositions

4. “Reward (reinforcement) to be
most effective in learning, must
follow almost immediately after
the desired behavior and be clearly
connected with that behavior in the
mind of the learner.” – Watson
 Learning Propositions
5. “Learners progress in any area of learning
only as far as they need to in order to
achieve their purpose. Often they do only
well enough to ‘get by’; with increased
motivation they improve.” – Watson
“ Adults are motivated to learn to the extent
that they perceive that learning will help
them perform tasks or deal with problems
that they confront in their life situations.” –
Knolwes, Holton, Swannon
 Learning Propositions

6. “Forgetting proceeds rapidly at

first- then more and more slowly;
recall shortly after learning reduces
the amount forgotten.” Watson
 Learning Propositions

7. “Learning from reading is

facilitated more by time spent
recalling what has been read than
by rereading.” –Watson
 Learning Propositions

8. “The best way to help pupils from a general

concept is to present the concept in
numerous ways and varied situations,
contrasting experiences with and without
the concept, then to encourage precise
formulations of the general idea in its
application in situations different from
those in which the concept was learned.” –
Watson
 Learning Propositions
9. “When children and adult experience too
much frustration, their behavior ceases to
be integrated, purposeful and rational.
Blindly they act out of their rage,
discouragement or withdrawal. The
threshold of what is ‘too much’ varies; it is
lowered by previous failures.” –Watson
 Learning Propositions
10. “No school subjects are markedly superior
to others for ‘strengthening mental powers.’
General improvement as a result of study in
any subject depends on instruction designed
to build up generalizations about principles,
concept formation and improvements of
techniques of study, thinking and
communication.” – Watson
 Learning Propositions

11.“What is learned is most likely to

be available for use if it is learned
in a situation much like that in
which is to be used immediately
preceding the time when it is
needed.” –Watson
 Learning Propositions
12. “Children (and adults even more)
remember new information which
confirms their previous attitudes
better than they remember new
information which runs counter to
their previous attitudes. –Watson
 Learning Propositions
13. “Adults need to know why they need to
learn something before undertaking to learn
it. “ –Knowles, Holton and Swanson
LEARNING THEORIES
Learning Theories

✓Are concepts and propositions that explain

why people learn and predict what
circumstances they will learn.
Major Learning Theories
– Behaviorist Theories
– Cognitive Theories
– Social Learning Theories
A. Behaviorist Theories
• Earliest formal theories for learning, used for children
• Focused on studying thoughts and feelings, fears and phobia
• Theorists:
1. John Watson
- Defined behavior as a muscle movement
- began studying behaviour because it is more objective.
2. Watson and Guthrie
- Contiguity theory
- Believed that even a skill such as walking is learned through
a series of conditioned responses.
3. Thorndike and Skinner
- reinforcement theory
- proposed that stimulus-response bonds are strengthened
by reinforcements such as reward or punishment.
B. Cognitive Learning Theories
Cognitive Science
✓ is a study of how our brains work in the process of perceiving,
thinking, remembering and learning.

Information Processing
✓ sometimes used to describe a subset of this field of study.

✓ Explains the way that information is handled once it enters the

sensed and how it is organized and stored.

Learning (in cognitive perspective)

✓ is an active process in which the learner constructs meaning based
on prior knowledge and view of the world.
B. Cognitive Learning Theories
Theorists:
1. Breur
– Learning is a process whereby the novice becomes expert
2. Feden, 1994
– An active process which the learner constructs meaning based
on prior knowledge and view of the world
3. Ausubel, 1963
– Developed earliest model of cognitive learning
– The Subsumption Theory of Meaningful Verbal Learning
– New information is subsumed into existing thought and memory
structures
– Meaningful learning is thought to occur only if existing cognitive
structures are organized and differentiated.
– Repetition of meaningful material and its use in various contexts
would enhance the retention of the material
4. Rumelhart, 1980
– Concept of schema or schemata
– “ all knowledge is packaged into units. These units are schemata.”
Schemata- knowledge structures that store concepts, and the knowledge of
how to use them in memory.
3 Kinds of Learning Based on Schema Theory
a. Accretion
– The learning of facts
– New information is added to existing schemata
– No changes are made to existing knowledge
b. Tuning (schema evolution)
– Existing schema evolve or refined throughout the lifespan as
new situations and issues are encountered
c. Restructuring (schema creation)
– Development if new schemata by copying an old schema and
adding new elements that are different to create a new
schema
 Other Theories/ Models of Information
Processes
1. Level of Processing Theory
– Information is processed sequentially, from perception to
attention- to labelling and meaning
2. The Parallel Distributing Model
– Information is processed by different parts of the memory
system simultaneously rather than sequential
3. Connectionistic Model
– The information is stored in any places throughout the brain,
forming network of connections
4. Stage Theory of Information Processing
– Relates to memory activity
– Information is both processed and stored in 3 stages: Sensory,
Short-Term Memory and Long-Term Memory
 3 Stages
a. Sensory Memory
– Fleeting or passing swiftly
b. Short-Term Memory
– Needs interest
– Retain indefinitely if rehearsed or
meaningful to us
c. Long-Term Memory
– Use of mnemonic device
 Common Concepts of Cognitive Theories
1. Learning
➢ Behaviorist: requisition of knowledge an skills that
changes a person’s behavior
➢ Cognitive theorists: focuses more on the acquisition of
knowledge than on the resulting behavior
➢ Feden: Domain-Specific Learning
2. Metacognition
➢ Sometimes defined as “thinking about one’s thinking
➢ A process that learners use to gauge or measure their
thinking while reading, studying or problem-solving
➢ To know what they know and what they do not know
➢ Journal writing, group dialogue, problem-based learning,
rationalization of test questions
 Common Concepts of Cognitive Theories
3. Memory
➢ Sensory, short term and long term
➢ Consolidation
➢ Chunking: information is clustered into patterns
4. Transfer
➢ Ability to take information learned in one situation and apply it
to another
➢ Concepts and principles are used or adopted not just to one
particular situation but to all other situations as well
➢ Successful transfer depends on several factors:
– The extent to which the material was originally learned
– The ability to retrieve information from memory
– The way in which the material was taught and learned
– The similarity of the new situation to original
C. Social Learning Theories
• Albert Bandura (1977)
• Observational Learning Theory
• Explains that behaviour is the result of an interaction
among the person (characteristics, personality etc.) to
the environment (physical, social etc) and the
behaviour itself.
• People learn as they are in constant interaction with
their environment
• Key components:
a. Modelling
b. Attentional processes
c. Retention Processes
d. Motivation
 Key Components of Social Learning Theory
a. Modelling
– Learning occurs as a result of observing other
people’s behavior and its consequences
b. Attentional Processes
– This determines which modelled behavior will be
learned
c. Retention Processes
– Refer to the ability to retain modelled behaviors in
permanent memory
d. Motivation
– Motivation through valued outcomes (rewards)
rather punishing outcomes
– Perceived reward is a good motivator
 8 Types of Learning
Gagne’s Conditions of Leaning
1. Signal Learning (conditioned response)
– Simplest level of learning
– Person develops a general diffuse reaction to a
stimulus
2. Stimulus-Response Learning
– Developing a voluntary response to a specific stimulus
or combination of stimuli
3. Chaining
– Acquisition of a series of related conditioned
responses or stimulus-response connections
4. Verbal Association
– Type of chaining
– Process of learning medical terminology
 Types of Learning
Gagne’s Conditions of Leaning
5. Discrimination Learning
– The more new chains that are learned, the easier it is to forget
previous chains
– To retain large number of chains, you need to discriminate among
them
6. Concept Learning
– Learning how to classify stimuli into groups represented by a common
concept
7. Rule learning
– Rule: chain of concepts or a relationship between concepts
– Expressed as “If.... And then ..” relationships
8. Problem solving
– Highest level of learning
– Applying previously learned rules that relate to situation
– Process of formulating and testing hypotheses
LEARNING STYLES
Learning Styles/Cognitive Styles
✓The habitual manner in which learners receive
and perceive information, process it,
understand it, value it, store it, and recall it.
✓The way a person processes, internalizes
studies, interprets, and changes new and
challenging materials.
 Memletic
Learning
Style

Learning
Style
Models
Dunn and
Kolb’s
Dunn
Learning
Learning
Style
Style
 Memletic Learning Style Model
✓Recognizes that each of us prefers to learn in
different ways.
Learning Style Other Term Description Area of the Brain
Responsible
Visual Spatial Prefers using pictures, Occipital lobes and
images, graphs, charts, parietal lobes
logic puzzles, and
spatial understanding

Aural Auditory-Musical Prefers using sound Temporal lobe

and music Right (music)
Verbal Linguistic Prefers using words, Temporal and frontal
both in speech and in lobes
writing
Physical Kinesthetic Prefers using body, Cerebellum and motor
hands, and sense of cortex
touch
Logical Mathematical Prefers using logic, Left parietal lobes
reasoning, and systems

Social Interpersonal Prefers to learn in Frontal and temporal

groups or with other lobes and limbic
people system
Solitary Intrapersonal Prefers to work alone Frontal and temporal
and use self-study lobes and limbic
system
Dunn and Dunn Learning Style Model
✓Most people can learn, and each individual
has his own unique ways of mastering new
and difficult subject matter.

Psychological Environmental

Physiological Emotional

Sociological
Strand Examples
Environmental Some people study in a cool and quiet room, while others cannot focus
unless they have music playing

Emotional Some people work best when motivated and encouraged, while some
feel motivated when assigned to lead and assume responsibility

Sociological A number of people need to work alone when tackling a new and
difficult subject, while others learn best when working with colleagues

Physiological Some people prefer to study at night, accomplishing more in a quiet

environment; still others find it easier to complete tasks in the morning
as apart of the daily routine.

Psychological Global learners prefer to work in an environment with soft lighting and
informal seating. Analytic learners prefer to work in an environment
with bright lighting and formal seating.
 Kolb’s Learning Style
✓ depicts learning as 4 stage cycle beginning with an
intermediate concrete experience during which the
person makes observations and reflections
✓ Then the person develops an abstract theory from
which he or she develops ideas on how to proceed.
✓ Finally, the person actively experiments with actions to
test them out.
✓ The four-stage learning cycle are : social or
accommodating, creative or diverging, intellectual or
assimilating, and practical or converging.
Kolb’s Learning Style
 Kolb’s Learning Style
Kolb then hypothesized that learners need 4
abilities to be effective:
1. Concrete Experience (CE) abilities: Leaning from
actual experience
2. Reflective Observation (RO) abilities: Learning
by observing others
3. Abstract Conceptualization (AC) abilities:
Creating theories to explain what is seen
4. Active Experimentation (AE) abilities: Using
theories to solve problems.
Social/Accomodator Learners
✓ Are leaders
✓ They learn best by analyzing and solving a problem as a
group using their own intuition and information from
other people rather than from books and lectures.
✓ They look for new experiences; often take risks and
employ hands on methods to accomplish their goals.
✓ They actively accomplish things often using trial-and-
error methods to solve problems.
✓ They may be impatient with other people and act on
intuition and are a risk taker.
Creative/Diverger Learners
✓ Are imaginative.
✓ They have an open mind to new ideas and offer
multiple perspectives.
✓ They value brainstorming with a group although they
often listen and observe sharing their own ideas.
✓ They rely on concrete examples to learn, and trust their
own feelings when making decisions.
✓They excel in imagination and awareness of meaning.
✓Their are feeling oriented and people oriented and likes
working in groups.
Intellectual/Assimilator Learners
✓ Are organized, logical and precise.
✓ They like to learn from lectures, reading, and
contemplation.
✓ They find facts, ideas, and information fascinating and
challenging to people and emotions.
✓ More scientific than artistic.
✓Their strengths are in inductive reasoning, creating
theoretical models and integrating ideas
✓ They prefer playing with ideas to actively and applying it
✓They are more concerned with ideas than with people.
Practical/Converger Learners
✓ Are both thinkers and doers.
✓ They are those who learn through experimentation,
seeking out new ideas, and discovering practical
applications for them.
✓ They can focus intently on selected subjects.
✓ They favor technical challenges to interpersonal
matters.
✓ They are goal-oriented and make decisions easily.
✓ They are good at decision making and problem
solving and likes dealing with technical work rather
than interpersonal relationships.
 Matching Learning Styles to
Instructions
• Some studies have shown increased levels of student
achievement when learners with a strong preference for a
certain style were matched with a similar teaching or testing
style.
• Some studies have shown more student satisfaction when
the teacher matches the student’s learning style, but some
have not.