Emergent Instruction

The maturity fallacy Adults do differ from children, but not in the ways you want to believe. Adults are goal-oriented; but then again, so are children. To a significant level, adults are more intrinsically motivated than children, as a result of having developed a concept of self-identity. However, I would argue that extrinsic motivation is still the highest motivator of adults as well; a need to succeed at a career is extrinsically motivated by factors such as being higher in the social hierarchy, attractiveness towards potential mates, and economic security. Most adults are too distracted, by the struggles of maintaining their status in the economic and social system, to learn simply for the sake of expanding their own knowledge. Their everyday reality is one in which they must provide value in return for compensation; the focus of their learning will be to increase the value they are compensated for. Theories of learning and instruction for adults must not be based on the idea th...

Andragogy Malcolm Knowles proposed “a new label and a new technology” of adult learning based on the European concept of andragogy, which he defined as “the art and science of helping adults learn” (Merrium, 2001). Knowles identified the following assumptions of the adult learner (Knowles, 1968): Need to Know: Adults need to know the reason for learning. Experience: Adults draw upon their experiences to aid their learning. Self Concept: Adult needs to be responsible for their decisions on education, involvement in the planning and evaluation of their instruction. Readiness: The learning readiness of adults is closely related to the assumption of new social roles. Orientation: As a person learns new knowledge, he or she wants to apply it immediately in problem-solving. Motivation (Later added): As a person matures, he or she receives their motivation to learn from internal factors. Andragogy vs. Pedagogy While many have called what Knowles proposed a theory of learning,...