Overview:
Knowles' theory of andragogy is an attempt to develop a theory specifically for adult learning. Knowles emphasizes that adults are self-directed and expect to take responsibility for decisions. Adult learning programs must accommodate this fundamental aspect.
Andragogy makes the following assumptions about the design of learning: (1) Adults need to know why they need to learn something (2) Adults need to learn experientially, (3) Adults approach learning as problem-solving, and (4) Adults learn best when the topic is of immediate value.
In practical terms, andragogy means that instruction for adults needs to focus more on the process and less on the content being taught. Strategies such as case studies, role playing, simulations, and self-evaluation are most useful. Instructors adopt a role of facilitator or resource rather than lecturer or grader.
Good heavenly days.
How is this different from a middle school?
An exemplary middle school, I mean.
Scope/Application:
Andragogy applies to any form of adult learning and has been used extensively in the design of organizational training programs (especially for "soft skill" domains such as management development).
That, I believe.
The one realm of life as goofy and fad-driven as the education world is the business world.
Speaking of exemplary, you can get a copy of Paul S. George's The Exemplary Middle School, 3rd edition for 36 cents at Amazon.
You are cracking me up!!! :D
ReplyDeleteIt's all so crazy, but sadly true!!
It's time for parent throughout the country to stop the madness in our schools and "facilitate" some accountability among the educrats!!
Check out:
http://www.edexcellence.net/flypaper/index.php/2008/05/everyone-loves-core-knowledge-except-for-alfie/
All those things may be true for people with two-digit IQs, but they're just insulting to everybody else. The more stuff you learn just because learning stuff is fun, the more often it happens that something you know turns out to be unexpectedly handy. If you get to be an adult without noticing that, you're not very bright, and if you base a whole theory of adult instruction on it, as Knowles does, you're just assuming that nobody else is any brighter than you are.
ReplyDeleteThe Dunning-Kruger curse in operation.*
*Wikipedia, "the Dunning-Kruger effect is the phenomenon wherein people who have little knowledge tend to think that they know more than they do, while others who have much more knowledge tend to think that they know less" (there's a link to the Cornell paper).
The way I've stated it is that the more you learn, the less you (realize that you) know. I've met some who suffer from the D-K effect. They don't have enough knowledge to know what it is that they don't know. How can you look something up if you don't even know that there is something you should look up?
ReplyDeleteNow what's the saying about something that's so bad it's not even wrong? This must have various forms too, but I vaguely remember something about it in Feynman's writings.
w. pauli.
ReplyDeleteLinda, thanks!
ReplyDeleteI'd forgotten the official name & paper.