KNOWLES: STUDYING THE ADULT LEARNER
from Patient Teaching, Loose Leaf Library
Springhouse Corporation (1990)

Educator Malcolm Knowles used Piaget's and Erikson's work to study the adult learner. Knowles believes that the adult learner brings life experiences to learning, incorporating and complementing the cognitive abilities of Piaget's adolescent. As the individual matures:
  1. his/her self-concept moves from dependency to self-direction
  2. he/she accumulates a growing reservoir of experiences that becomes a resource for learning
  3. his/her learning readiness becomes increasingly oriented to the tasks of various social roles
  4. his/her time perspective changes from one of postponed knowledge application to immediate application
  5. his/her orientation to learning shifts from subject-centered to problem-centered

If you examine personal and cognitive development and compare teaching approaches, you see that children tend to be dependent learners, whereas adults need to be independent and exercise control.

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