Essay Instructions: Hello,
I am taking an online class focusing on the "Principles of Adult Learning". I have roughly 11 assignments that I will be farming out to your service, all requiring short essay responses to questions. Please read the lesson below and answer the questions at the very bottom of the lesson to the best of your ability. Be sure to site all references used in APA format. Thanks.
- Lesson Seven Topic: Beyond Andragogy/Key Theories of Learning
Objectives:
1. To understand how theory and theories translate into implications for practice.
2. To become aware of how factors other than the Andragogical learning principles
(see page 4) affect learning behavior.
I. Introduction and General Information
1) In the T. H. White book "The Once and Future King", a book about the glorious legendary world of King Arthur, a passage reads (this is an exchange between Merlyn--the absent-minded magician and Arthur's devoted teacher and a young Arthur who he refers to as the "Wart."
"Well," said the Wart, "what about it?" "The best thing for being sad," replied Merlyn, beginning to puff and blow, "is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honor trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then--to learn."
"Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the thing for you. Look at what a lot of things there are to learn?pure science, the only purity there is. You can learn astronomy in a lifetime, natural history in three, and literature in six. And then, after you have exhausted a milliard lifetimes in biology and medicine and theocriticism and geography and history and economics--why, you can start to make a cartwheel out of the appropriate wood, or spend fifty years learning to begin to learn to beat your adversary at fencing. After that you can start again on mathematics. . . until it is time to learn to plough."
2) Theory
a. B. F. Skinner, a psychologist who is nearly as recognizable as Freud, was sometimes criticized for his simplistic approach to human behavior and exploring the human mind. Two of his former colleagues (Gilbert and Gilbert) point out that any scientific theory should be:
• Parsimonious: Don't use a grand complexity to explain something when a simple account will do as well.
• Elegant: The pieces and parts of a good theory should not be an eclectic mess, but should fit neatly together.
• Useful: A good theory should have utility--if not out in the "real world," at least in helping the science advance
Note: See page 10 in textbook: "some psychologists don?t believe in theories at all."
b. Refer to page 8 (textbook), "a good theory..." and page 9, Webster's Seventh New Intercollegiate Dictionary
c. Adult Learning Theory is a synthesis of several theories. (Andragogy is the result of this phenomenon)
d. Adult Learning Theory holds as unsatisfactory three common views of adults as learners:
- Adults are less capable of learning than children
- Adults are super learners
- Adults are homogenous, having "central tendencies"
Note: Physiological, psychological, and social characteristics have tremendous implications for adults as learners.
Note: Refer back to pages 10, 11, 12 in the textbook to review how "change" factors into learning.
e. Learning Theory... refer to page 18 (textbook). If you have read chapters 1- 2 - 3, you have seen the various concepts upon which Andragogy is based.
3) The Theory of Adult Learning = Andragogy. You may want to review page 4, Figure 1-1.
a. Andragogy, was first introduced in Knowles work in the early 70's The Modern Practice of Adult Education: Pedagogy vs. Andragogy. It was viewed as somewhat two dimensional as is illustrated here:
Pedagogy Andragogy
If viewed as a continuum, you were either a pedagogical teacher, or an Andragogical facilitator of learning. If you were working with younger learners, you approached the teaching/learning interaction pedagogically. If you were working with older learners, you approached the teaching/learning interaction Andragogical.
The Fact is, that the most effective facilitator of learning could move easily along the continuum, from a pedagogical approach to an Andragogical approach.
In subsequent editions of Modern Practice the subtitle was changed from pedagogy vs. Andragogy, to from pedagogy to Andragogy, indicating that the teacher should use the principles of either approach according to the learners competency and commitment and the task to be learned.
***II. Assignment for Lesson # 7***
1. Discuss the difference between "learning" and "learning how to learn." (*250 words minimum)
2. Select one of the following developmental theorists. Summarize their theory (tell what it is). Explain its use when working as an adult educator: Jonassen & Grabowski; Horn & Cattell; Sternberg; Gibbons; Smith; Levirson; Erickson; and Loevinger. (*250 words minimum)
