Differences between adult and child learners

Module Details

1. Subject Name Adult Education

2. Paper Name Psychological Foundation

3. Module number Module- 2.9

4. Module Name Differences between adult and child learners

5. Principal Investigator Prof. Vandana Chakrabarti, Director, Lifelong Learning and

Extension, SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai

6. Paper Coordinator Prof. Anuradha Sovani, Professor, Department of

Psychology,SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai
7. Content writer Ms. Aditi Vaze, Visiting faculty, Dept of Psychology, SNDT
Women’s University, Mumbai
8. Content Reviewer Prof. Anuradha Sovani, Professor, Department of
Psychology,SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai

Content Outline
1. Introduction
2. Objectives of the module
3. What is learning
4. What is pedagogy
5. What is andragogy
6. Pedagogy vs androgogy similarities
7. Pedagogy vs andragogy differences
8. Conclusion

1. Introduction

Pedagogy literally means the art and science of educating children and often is used as a
synonym for teaching. More accurately, pedagogy embodies teacher-focused education.
In the pedagogic model, teachers assume responsibility for making decisions about what
will be learned, how it will be learned, and when it will be learned. Teachers direct
learning, is the leader and is completely responsible and accountable for all learning
decisions such as: what is to be taught, how it is to be taught, when it is to be taught,
how learning is to be measured, etc.

Andragogy is based on a need to be treated as a respected, self-directed adult (Knowles,

1968). Andragogy encourages a relationship of mutuality and reciprocity between
learner and teacher. Both learner and teacher, for example, are involved in designing the
learning experience and in evaluating the learning experience (Noe, 2010). There is a
mutual and reciprocal exchange between learner and teacher that engenders respect on
the part of both parties. Supporters of andragogy maintain that how adults learn is
different from how children learn.

1
The most significant difference between pedagogy and andragogy is the self-concept of
the learner. Adults must be taught differently from children if learning is to be effective.
In other words, the curriculum should be flexible in relation to increased knowledge such
as how adults learn. As new information comes along it must be included in the
curriculum. On the other hand, as information becomes obsolescent it may have to be
modified or eliminated from the curriculum (Altbach et al., 2005).

2. Objectives of the module

At the end of the session learners will be able to:

 Explain what is Learning

 Explain what is pedagogy and andragogy
 Describe similarities and differences between Andragogy and Pedagogy

Learning is life, not just preparation for life. However, our academic system has grown in
reverse order. Subjects and teachers constitute the starting point, and learners are
secondary. In conventional education the learner is required to adjust to an established
curriculum. Our learning nowadays consists of someone else's experience and
knowledge. As a result, many learners leave school having lost interest in learning. Even
good-intentioned educators can squelch naturally inquisitive instincts by controlling the
learning environment. By adulthood, some people view learning as a chore and a
burden.
The study of how adults learn is an important endeavor in many college programs today.
With a growing number of adults entering the college scene, the study of andragogy.
Contrasting how adults learn with how children learn is one of the best ways to
discovering more about this fascinating field.

3. What is learning?

Learning is often defined as a relatively lasting change in behavior that is the result of
experience. Learning is an adaptive function by which our nervous system changes in
relation to stimuli in the environment, thus changing our behavioral responses and
permitting us to function in our environment. The process occurs initially in our nervous
system in response to environmental stimuli. Neural pathways can be strengthened,
pruned, activated, or rerouted, all of which cause changes in our behavioral responses.

Learning is a more or less permanent change in behavior potential that occurs as a result
of practice; it is not a change due to motivational factors, sensory adaptation, fatigue,
maturation, senescence or stimulus change.

There are three main types of learning: classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and
observational learning. Both classical and operant conditioning are forms
of associative learning, in which associations are made between events that occur
together. Observational learning is just as it sounds: learning
by observing others.Behavioral Psychology is basically interested in how our behavior
results from the stimuli both in the environment and within ourselves.

4. What is pedagogy?

Pedagogy is the science and art of education, specifically instructional theory. An

instructor develops conceptual knowledge and manages the content of learning activities
in pedagogical settings.

2
Modern pedagogy has been strongly influenced by the theories of three major heavy-
weights in the science of human development: Jean Piaget's cognitive theory of
development and Lev Vygotsky and Jerome Bruner's social interaction and cultural
theory.

Piaget’s theory of cognitive development

Piaget's (1936) theory of cognitive development explains how a child constructs a mental
model of the world. He disagreed with the idea that intelligence was a fixed trait, and
regarded cognitive development as a process which occurs due to biological maturation
and interaction with the environment. The goal of the theory is to explain the
mechanisms and processes by which the infant, and then the child, develops into an
individual who can reason and think using hypotheses.

Piaget proposed four stages of cognitive development which reflect the increasing
sophistication of children's thought:
1. Sensorimotor Stage (birth to age 2 years) The main achievement during this stage
is Object Permanence - knowing that an object still exists, even if it is hidden.It requires
the ability to form a mental representation (i.e. a schema) of the object.

2. Pre-Operational Stage (from age 2 to age 7 years) During this stage, young children
are able to think about things symbolically. This is the ability to make one thing - a word
or an object - stand for something other than itself.Thinking is still egocentric, and the
infant has difficulty taking the viewpoint of others.

3. Concrete Operational Stage (from age 7 to age 11 years) Piaget considered the
concrete stage a major turning point in the child's cognitive development, because it
marks the beginning of logical or operational thought.This means the child can work
things out internally in their head (rather than physically try things out in the real
world).Children can conserve number (age 6), mass (age 7), and weight (age 9).
Conservation is the understanding that something stays the same in quantity even
though its appearance changes.

4. Formal Operational Stage (age 11+ - adolescence and adulthood).The formal

operational stage begins at approximately age eleven and lasts into adulthood. During
this time, people develop the ability to think about abstract concepts, and logically test
hypothesis.

Each child goes through the stages in the same order and child development is
determined by biological maturation and interaction with the environment. Although no
stage can be missed out there are individual differences in the rate at which children
progress through stages, and some individuals may never attain the later stages.Piaget
has been extremely influential in developing educational policy and teaching practice.

Lev vygotsky’s social development theory

Vygotsky's theories stress the fundamental role of social interaction in the development
of cognition (Vygotsky, 1978), as he believed strongly that community plays a central
role in the process of "making meaning." Social learning tends to preceded development.
He has developed a sociocultural approach to cognitive development.

According to Vygotsky (1978), much important learning by the child occurs through
social interaction with a skillful tutor. The tutor may model behaviors and/or provide
verbal instructions for the child. The child seeks to understand the actions or instructions
provided by the tutor (often the parent or teacher) then internalizes the information,

3
using it to guide or regulate their own performance. He referred to them as just that:
the More Knowledgable Other (MKO). MKO’s can be parents, adults, teachers,
coaches, experts/professionals – but also things you might not first expect, such as
children, friends and computers. He described something known as the zone of
proximal development (ZPD), which is a key feature of his theory. There are two
levels of attainment for the ZPD:

 Level 1 – the ‘present level of development’. This describes what the child is capable
of doing without any help from others.
 Level 2 – the ‘potential level of development’. This means what the child could
potentially be capable of with help from other people or ‘teachers’.

The gap between level 1 and 2 (the present and potential development) is what
Vygotsky described as this zone of proximal development. When a child does attain their
potential, this shift occurs and the child can continue learning more complex, higher
level material.Another important feature of this theory is scaffolding. When an adult
provides support for a child, they will adjust the amount of help they give depending on
their progress. This progression of different levels of help is scaffolding.

Vygotsky provided a very influential theory which provided a meaningful social context in
the development of learning. The emphasis of cultural knowledge was something unseen
in Piaget’s theory.

Bruner’s theory of development

In his research on the cognitive development of children (1966), Jerome Bruner

proposed three modes of representation:

 Enactive representation (action-based) 0 – 1years.This appears first. It involves

encoding action based information and storing it in our memory. For example,
in the form of movement as a muscle memory, a baby might remember the
action of shaking a rattle. The child represents past events through motor
responses, i.e. an infant will “shake a rattle” which has just been removed or
dropped, as if the movements themselves are expected to produce the
accustomed sound.
 Iconic representation (image-based) 1 – 6 years.This is where information is
stored visually in the form of images (a mental picture in the mind’s eye). For
some, this is conscious; others say they don’t experience it. This may explain
why, when we are learning a new subject, it is often helpful to have diagrams or
illustrations to accompany verbal information.
 Symbolic representation (language-based) 7 years onwards. This develops last.
This is where information is stored in the form of a code or symbol, such
as language. This is the most adaptable form of representation, for actions
&images have a fixed relation to that which they represent. Dog is a symbolic
representation of a single class. Symbols are flexible in that they can be
manipulated, ordered, classified etc., so the user isn’t constrained by actions or
images. In the symbolic stage, knowledge is stored primarily as words,
mathematical symbols, or in other symbol systems.

For Bruner (1961), the purpose of education is not to impart knowledge, but instead to
facilitate a child's thinking and problem solving skills which can then be transferred to a
range of situations. The role of the teacher should not be to teach information by rote
learning, but instead to facilitate the learning process. This means that a good teacher
will design lessons that help student discover the relationship between bits of
information. To do this a teacher must give students the information they need, but

4
without organizing for them. The use of the spiral curriculum can aid the process
of discovery learning.

5. What is andragogy ?

Malcolm Knowles (2011) defined andragogy as the art and science of helping adults
learn and described self-inquiry as the adult learning process. There are certain
assumptions regarding how adults learn.

 Adult learning is viewed as problem-based and collaborative not didactic.

 Adults are self-directed and autonomous and determine individual learning goals. As
self-directed learners, they want to determine the knowledge that will be learned, the
projects in which they will participate, and how they will demonstrate the knowledge
gained. Self-directed learners are proactive, learn more things and learn better, than
do learners who are reactive learners and are passively engaged in the learning.
They enter into learning with greater motivation and more purposeful. As a result,
new knowledge is retained better and longer, as well as applied with greater ease to
new situations.
 Adult learners have a variety of life experiences and prior knowledge from work,
school, family, and community involvements.
 Respect for adult learners needs to be demonstrated during the learning process, in
particular acknowledging the wealth of knowledge and experiences they bring to the
learning situation.
 Adult learners need to be treated as equals in the learning situation and be given
opportunities to communicate freely.
 Connections need to be made by the learner between prior knowledge and the new
knowledge. These connections help the adult learner see the value of the new
knowledge to real life situation and enable the learner to apply the new knowledge to
meaningful situations.
 Adult learners are goal oriented. Most adults engage in a learning experience to
create a change in a skill, behavior, current knowledge, or attitude.
 Learning needs to focus on tasks involving a component of the learner’s social roles.
Adult learners are motivated to learning that can have immediate application to their
real life situations.
 The adult learner needs to have a reason for the learning. Application to the learner’s
work or other responsibilities, help the adult learner see value in gaining the new
knowledge.
 Adult learners are practical and focus on the parts of the new knowledge that are
most useful to them; either in their work or other areas of their life.

Motivation in Adult Learners Malcolm Knowles (2011) indicates that motivation in adult
learners is both extrinsic and intrinsic. They are –
 The need to make new friendships and engage with new associates.
 Meeting the external expectation or recommendation to participate in new learning
from someone in authority.
 Adults may become motivated to get involved in new learning for personal
advancement such as achieving a job promotion, obtain advanced status in
employment, or stay competitive.
 Obtaining or maintaining a license/ certification, maintaining/developing skills, or
adapting to changes within a job can be motivation for adult learning experiences.
 To be able to assist the community, be better prepared to participate in community
work or serve mankind.
 To acquire new knowledge to escape boredom and relief from the ordinary daily
routines of work or home with a contrast of other more exciting opportunities.
 Learning for the sake of gaining new knowledge, obtaining knowledge for its own
sake and appeasing an inquisitive mind.

5
Retention is an important part of the adult learning process. It is directly impacted by
the amount of practice/use during the learning.

Adult learners have barriers to their motivation to learn.

 They have many personal and work responsibilities that must be balanced with the
demands of learning.
 Lack of time, financial resources, confidence, or information regarding opportunities
to learn, scheduling difficulties, as well as child care and transportation issues can
impact the adult learners’ motivation to learn.
 Past educational or work experiences may be barriers to learning. This occurs if the
new knowledge is in conflict with past education or life experiences. This conflict
needs to be addressed before the learners can actively engage in the learning.

6. Pedagogy vs andragogy: similarities

 The learner, be it a child or an adult comes to the learning process with life
experiences and prior knowledge that is used by the learner to make connections to
the new learning.

 For learning to take place, both adults and children need to be immersed in what is
being learned. This is needed to help insure that the new knowledge is internalized to
the point where the knowledge can be transferred into appropriate situations. Since
adults have more prior knowledge and more life experiences to bring to the learning
situation, internalization and transfer may take less time than the new learning of a
child.

 Approximations in learning take place in the learning of adults as well as children.

Due the natural learning process, both adults and children need to use the learning
or employ the knowledge gained. The more the knowledge is used, the closer the
approximations come to the conventions and become internalized.

 Feedback to both the adult and the child helps each learner fine tune the
approximations. Once the learning has been internalized, the knowledge is
transferred into new situations by both the adult and child learners.

 A major characteristic that impacts the natural learning process is engagement of

both adult and child learners. The more actively engaged in the learning process, the
faster the knowledge is obtained and the better the knowledge is learned. Both the
adult and child learner need to be motivated to learn. The motivation can be intrinsic
or extrinsic. Active engagement is influence by a risk free environment, self- directed
learner characteristics, alignment with life experiences and prior knowledge,
immersion, demonstrations, feedback, and learner responsibility as well as
motivation for the adult and child learner.

7. Pedagogy vs andragogy: differences

1. Learning behavior
Adult learners are self-directed; they have control over their learning experience and
they are more responsible for their own learning. They are also deeply involved not only
in planning, but also in evaluating their learning, as they know what knowledge they
want to acquire. On the contrary, young learners are not self-directed; they still depend
on their teachers throughout the learning process. Therefore, their teachers should be

6
responsible not only of what will be taught, but also of how it will be taught and
evaluated.

2. The role of learners’ experience

Adult learners have clearly more experience than young learners. Their experience
becomes the main resource of both their learning and the personal identity they have
developed, as the richer and more diverse their experience, the more the diversity they
can bring to their own learning. Young learners, on the other hand, present little
personal experience by default, and so it is impossible for this experience to serve as a
learning resource; it can be only used to build upon.

3. Orientation to learning
Adult learners seek information that is useful in their personal lives and work
environment. This audience demands that their learning is relevant to their real life
issues, problems, and tasks, and that their education will boost their performance levels
and help them live their lives in a better, and more satisfying way. Young audience’s
learning, on the contrary, is subject centered, meaning that the subject determines the
sequence according to which the learning content units will be presented and taught.

4. Readiness to learn
Adult learners’ readiness to learn can be triggered by literally anything; a sudden change
in their lives, a need for dealing with life tasks and problems more successfully, the
desire for self-improvement and self-development, and so on. Adults need to know why
to learn something; as soon as they answer this question, they are ready to start.
Children, on the other hand, are usually told what to learn; the reason behind their
learning is developing their skills to achieve the next level of mastery.

5. Motivation for learning

Mostly intrinsic motivators; self-esteem, self-confidence, desire for better quality of life,
curiosity, self-development, and recognition are only a few factors that motivate adult
learners to learn. Needless to say, intrinsic incentives are much more powerful than
extrinsic ones, and thus adult learners, more often than not, are more satisfied with the
learning process, more focused, more persistent, and more eager to apply their
knowledge more frequently and successfully than younger learners. On the other hand,
children and teenagers are mostly motivated by extrinsic factors, such as getting good
grades or other perks, or avoiding the consequences of failure.

Adults challenge new information, but younger students implicitly accept it. We’d have a
problem on our hands if our nine-year old students questioned the legitimacy of their
multiplication tables, or were skeptical about the spherical shape of the earth. For adult
students, however, skepticism is part of the path to learning. It’s not just expected; it’s
encouraged. The way that adults learn best is by challenging new ideas, comparing them
to preconceived notions, life lessons, and other information, thereby cementing the new
information into their minds.

Adults pursue education with immediate application and relevance, whereas younger
students simply engage in education without a clear sense of direction. Thus, their
education has immediate application to their daily life. Being able to walk from the
classroom into the office makes one’s education truly applicable. For this reason, adults
enter degree programs and areas of education that will immediately enhance their
career, meet their needs, or solve their current problems. For the adult, education is
relevant.

7
It is clear that andragogy can be highly motivational, as adult learners are more goal
oriented than younger learners; this is why offering them meaningful learning
experiences can make a real difference in achieving learning outcomes.

8. Conclusion

The Andragogic model asserts that five issues be considered and addressed in formal
learning. They include,

 Letting learners know why something is important to learn,

 Showing learners how to direct themselves through information,
 Relating the topic to the learners' experiences,
 Motivation -People will not learn until they are ready and motivated to learn.
 Requires helping them overcome inhibitions, behaviors, and beliefs about learning.

Knowles himself concedes that four of andragogy's five key assumptions apply equally to
adults and children. The sole difference is that children have fewer experiences and pre-
established beliefs than adults and thus have less to relate. In the information age, the
implications of a move from teacher-centered to learner-centered education are
staggering. Postponing or suppressing this move will slow our ability to learn new
technology and gain competitive advantage.