PRINCIPLES AND STRATEGIES OF TEACHING IN HEALTH EDUCATION

BS in MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY

Chapter 5
ADULT LEARNING

A MODEL OF ADULT LEARNING

In the early 1970s most theories of learning came from psychology. Many of
these psychological theories of learning are general in nature, often assuming that
similar learning processes occur for everybody, whether children or adults. In
contrast, theories emerging from the field of adult education have tended to focus
more on what is distinctive about adult learning in particular. Coben and Llorente
draw attention to the strengths and weaknesses of this approach. While it has been
good to encourage the development of research and theory in the field, it has also
closed off some possibilities of dialogue with other fields of social sciences, pedagogy
in particular. This has encouraged attention to the differences between working with
adults and working with children, rather than to the core issue of the purposes and
practices of ‘education for all’.
In the early 1970s several influential books were produced which argued that
there is something particular about the way adults learn, and that research and
practice in adult education should reflect these particularities. These included Houle’s
‘The design of Education’, Kidd’s ‘How Adults Learn’, and perhaps most influentially
Knowles’ ‘The Adult Learner: A Neglected Species’.
Knowles outlined a model of adult learning that he called ‘andragogy’, which
consists primarily of a set of assumptions about the adult learner. Knowles claimed
that adults have to know why they need to learn something before they undertake to
learn it. They must move from a dependent self-concept to a self-directing one. They
have accumulated more experience, and an experience of a different quality, than
children and their readiness to learn is linked to the tasks associated with their social
role and stage of life. Adults engage in problem-centered, rather than subject-
centered learning and are driven by internal rather than external motivation.
In the pedagogical model, which Knowles identifies as having been linked
historically with teacher-directed education of children, these assumptions are
reversed. This model assumes that learners need to know only that they must learn
what the teacher teaches and their personality becomes dependent, rather than self-
directing. Their own experience is positioned as being of little worth, the experience
that counts in the classroom being that of the teacher. They learn what the teacher
tells them they need to learn, not what is relevant to their own lives. They are
understood to have a subject-centered orientation to learning, and they are seen as
being best persuaded to learn through the use of external forms of motivation.
 Early editions of Knowles’ work make a clear distinction between pedagogy as
suitable for children and andragogy as suitable for adults. However, he later came to
recognize that different models of teaching and learning are appropriate for different
situations. A pedagogical strategy rather than an andragogical one may be most
appropriate in some contexts, such as when learners are completely new to a
particular subject area. However, he claims that the andragogue will only use
pedagogical strategies as a first step, and will do everything possible to make the
learner themselves responsible for their own learning. He abstracts principles of
teaching from these theories of learning.

COMPARISON OF PEDAGOGY FROM ANDAGOGY

Pedagogy derives from the Greek paidagogia: the word "paid," means child, and
"agogos," means leader. Thus, pedagogy originally meant education, attendance on
children. From this origin the teacher-centered model has been part of the
pedagogical model. The teacher, according to this model has full responsibility for
making decisions about what will be learned, how it will be learned, when it will be
learned, and determining if the material has been learned. Pedagogy, therefore,
places the student in a submissive role.
Pedagogy, or what some people refer to as didactic, has had competition from
a different approach to teaching and learning, a new theory called andragogy.
The term andragogy was originally formulated by a German teacher, Alexander
Kapp, in 1833. The first time the term "andragogy" became widespread among adult
educators in North America was in 1968, when a professor of adult education at
Boston University, Malcom Knowles introduced the term (then spelled "androgogy")
through a journal article. Knowles later developed it into a theory of adult learning
education in the Modern Practice of Adult Education: Andragogy Versus Pedagogy, in
1970. In this book, Knowles, differentiates the two disciplines as follows:

Andragogy Pedagogy
Learners are called “participants” Learners are called “students.”
or “learners.”
Independent learning style. Dependent learning style.
Objectives are flexible. Objectives are predetermined and
inflexible
It is assumed that the learners have It is assumed that the learners are
experience to contribute. inexperienced and/or uninformed.
Active training methods are used. Passive training methods, such as
lecture, are used.
Learners influence timing and pace.  Trainer controls timing and pace.
Participant involvement is vital. Participants contribute little to the
experience.
Learning is real-life problem-centered. Learning is content-centered.
Participants are seen as primary Trainer is seen as the primary
resources for ideas and examples. resource that provides ideas and
examples.

For Knowles, andragogy is premised on at least four crucial assumptions

about the characteristics of adult learners that are different from the assumptions
about child learners on which traditional pedagogy is premised. A fifth was added
later.
1. Self-concept: As a person matures his self concept moves from one of being a
dependent personality toward one of being a self-directed human being.
2. Experience: As a person matures he accumulates a growing reservoir of experience
that becomes an increasing resource for learning.
3. Readiness to learn. As a person matures his readiness to learn becomes oriented
increasingly to the developmental tasks of his social roles.
4. Orientation to learning. As a person matures his time perspective changes from
one of postponed application of knowledge to immediacy of application, and
accordingly his orientation toward learning shifts from one of subject-centeredness
to one of problem centeredness.
5. Motivation to learn: As a person matures the motivation to learn is internal.
By 1984 Knowles had altered his position on the distinction between pedagogy
and andragogy. The child-adult dichotomy became less marked. He claimed, as
above, that pedagogy was a content model and andragogy a process model but the
same criticisms apply concerning his introduction of behaviorist elements. He even
added the fifth assumption: As a person matures the motivation to learn is internal.
Yet while there have been these shifts, the tenor of his work, as Jarvis argues, still
seem to suggest that andragogy is related to adult learning and pedagogy to child
learning.

PROPOSITIONS OF LEARNINGS

Proposition 1: Teachers are committed to students and their learning.

• Educators treat students equitably.
• Educators’ mission extends to pupil growth beyond the development of cognitive
capacity.
• Educators understand how children with broad ranges of ability learn and provide
instruction that supports their intellectual, social, and personal development.
• Educators understand how pupils differ in their approaches to learning and the
barriers that impede learning and can adapt instruction to meet the diverse needs
of pupils, including those with disabilities and exceptionalities.

Proposition II: Teachers know the subjects they teach and how to teach those
subjects to students.
• Educators demonstrate an appreciation of how knowledge in their subjects is
created, organized and linked to other disciplines.
• Educators demonstrate specialized knowledge of how to convey to students
knowledge and understanding in a subject.
• Educators generate multiple paths to their students’ knowledge and
understanding
• Educators understand the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the
disciplines they teach and can create learning experiences that make these
aspects of subject matter meaningful for pupils.
• Educators organize and plan systematic instruction based upon knowledge of the
subject matter, students, the community, and curriculum goals.

Proposition III: Teachers are responsible for managing and monitoring student
learning.

• Educators help students learn to evaluate their own progress and make
improvements in how they learn
• Educators understand and use a variety of instructional strategies, including the
use of technology, to encourage children’s development of critical thinking,
problem solving, and performance skills.
• Educators use an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior
to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction,
active engagement in learning, and self-motivation.
• Educators use effective verbal and nonverbal communication techniques as well
as instructional media and technology to foster active inquiry, collaboration, and
supportive interaction in the classroom.
• Educators understand and use formal and informal assessment strategies to
evaluate and ensure the continuous intellectual, social, and physical development
of the pupil.

Proposition IV: Teachers think systematically about their practice and learn from
experience.

• Educators systematically record and construct meaning of their teaching

experiences for the purpose of developing good judgment.
• Educators seek and reflect upon the advice of others.
• Educators use educational research and scholarship to improve their practice.
• Educators are reflective practitioners who continually evaluate the effects of their
choices and actions on pupils, parents, professionals in the learning community
and others and who actively seek out opportunities to grow professionally.

Proposition V: Teachers are members of learning communities.

• Educators contribute to school effectiveness by collaboration with other
professionals.
• Teachers create learning communities within their classrooms.
• Educators help develop a self-renewing school culture with shared decision-
making and a dedication to continuous improvement.
• Educators foster relationships with school colleagues, parents, and agencies in the
larger community to support pupil learning and well being and act with integrity
and fairness in an ethical manner.

GAGNE’s CONDITION OF LEARNING

This theory stipulates that there are several different types or levels of learning.
The significance of these classifications is that each different type requires different
types of instruction. Gagne identifies five major categories of learning: verbal
information, intellectual skills, cognitive strategies, motor skills and attitudes.
Different internal and external conditions are necessary for each type of learning. For
example, for cognitive strategies to be learned, there must be a chance to practice
developing new solutions to problems; to learn attitudes, the learner must be
exposed to a credible role model or persuasive arguments.
Gagne suggests that learning tasks for intellectual skills can be organized in a
hierarchy according to complexity: stimulus recognition, response generation,
procedure following, use of terminology, discriminations, concept formation, rule
application, and problem solving. The primary significance of the hierarchy is to
identify prerequisites that should be completed to facilitate learning at each level.
Prerequisites are identified by doing a task analysis of a learning/training task.
Learning hierarchies provide a basis for the sequencing of instruction.

In addition, the theory outlines nine instructional events and corresponding cognitive
processes:

• Gaining attention (reception)

• Informing learners of the objective (expectancy)
• Stimulating recall of prior learning (retrieval)
• Presenting the stimulus (selective perception)
• Providing learning guidance (semantic encoding)
• Eliciting performance (responding)
• Providing feedback (reinforcement)
• Assessing performance (retrieval)
• Enhancing retention and transfer (generalization).

While Gagne's theoretical framework covers all aspects of learning, the focus of
the theory is on intellectual skills. The theory has been applied to the design of
instruction in all domains. In its original formulation (1962), special attention was
given to military training settings. Gagne in 1987 addresses the role of instructional
technology in learning.

Example

The following example illustrates a teaching sequence corresponding to the nine

instructional events for the objective, recognize an equilateral triangle:
1. Gain attention - show variety of computer generated triangles 
2. Identify objective - pose question: "What is an equilateral triangle?" 
3. Recall prior learning - review definitions of triangles 
4. Present stimulus - give definition of equilateral triangle 
5. Guide learning- show example of how to create equilateral 
6. Elicit performance - ask students to create 5 different examples 
7. Provide feedback - check all examples as correct/incorrect 
8. Assess performance- provide scores and remediation 
9. Enhance retention/transfer - show pictures of objects and ask students to identify
equilaterals

Principles
• Different instruction is required for different learning outcomes.
• Events of learning operate on the learner in ways that constitute the
conditions of learning.
• The specific operations that constitute instructional events are different for
each different type of learning outcome.
• Learning hierarchies define what intellectual skills are to be learned and a
sequence of instruction.