3. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ADULT EDUCATION What motivates the adult to learn? What other factors make the adult learner psychologically different from the child and that the adult educator must take into consideration when preparing to facilitate any adult learning program? To answer some of these questions, Knowles cited Eduard C. Lindeman, whom he believed best described the psychology of the adult learner: "Meaning must reside in the things for which people strive, the goals which they set for themselves, their wants, their needs, desires, and wishes...viewed from the standpoint of adult education, such personalities seem to want among other things, intelligence, power, self-expression, freedom, creativity, appreciation, enjoyment, fellowship. Or stated in terms of the Greek ideal, they are searching for the "good life." They want to count for something; they want their experiences to be vivid and meaningful; they want their talents to be utilized; they want to know beauty and joy; and they want all these realizations of their total personalities to be shared in communities of fellowship. Briefly, they want to improve themselves; this is their realistic and primary aim. But they want also to change the social order so that vital personalities will be creating a new environment in which their aspirations may be properly expressed" (Lindeman, 1961, pp. 13-14). Lindeman's description was not that of a child struggling toward achieving maturity, as in Overstreet's system, or an amorphous individual searching for self-integration in Erikson's, but a mature individual seeking to maximize h/er human potential. Knowles contrasted the two psychologist's perspectives with Lindeman's to lay the foundation for understanding the psychology of the adult learner. Every society used adult education processes to continue the development of the kind of citizens visualized to be required for the maintenance and progress of the society. But if Toffler's prediction of the imminent arrival of the Third Wave or information age are accepted, then the new citizen will need to learn some new developmental tasks. Knowles, like Toffler, Naisbitt and Aburdene, Hesburgh, and the other social analysts and educators, believed the following learning activities needed to be undertaken in order to adapt to this new age: 1. Learn how to change. 2. Learn how to deal with complexity. 3. Learn how to perform tasks using machinery. 4. Become liberated from traditional prejudices and establish open, empathic, collaborative relationships with other human beings (p. 32). Kidd (1973), supported Knowles' position by describing what he believed were shifts in tasks or roles that a person performs as he matures. The developmental changes of an adult are many. For example: 1. Becoming independent. 2. Seeking and maintaining forms of livelihood. 3. Selecting a mate. 4. Learning to live with a mate. 5. Becoming a functioning parent. 6. Interacting with the community and society. 7. Enlarging responsibilities as a citizen. 8. Accepting changes in relationships - of parents or children. 9. Preparing for retirement. 10. Finding satisfaction in old age. 11. Preparing for death (p.16). Somers (1988) concurred with Knowles and Kidd by proposing four key assumptions about adult learners that distinguish them from children. Like Knowles, Somers believed that the role of the learner in pedagogy is one of dependency. In andragogy, the deep psychological needs of the adult are defined and adults are viewed as (1) self-directing, (2) maturing toward independence, (3) possessing significant experiential knowledge which makes group teaching experience effective, and (4) ready to learn. He advocated that adult educators consider these characteristics in preparing learning experiences for adults. Karmos (1989) supported Somer's assumptions and called for empowering adult education based on the principles that adults (1) can learn a lot, (2) demand solid content, (3) want to learn something new, and (4) guard their self-esteem. Given the writings of the analysts cited thus far, a strong case can be made for the proposition that the greatest danger facing modern civilization was not atomic warfare, nor environmental pollution, nor population explosion, nor the depletion of natural resources, but the underlying causes of them all--the accelerating obsolescence of man. The evidence is mounting that man's ability to cope with his changing world is lagging farther and farther behind the changing world. Knowles (1970) believed, "The only hope now seems to be a crash program to retool the present generation of adults with competencies required to function adequately in this condition of perpetual change. This is the deep need and the awesome challenge facing the adult educator as he prepares the adult student to face modern society" (p.33). As the mission of the adult educator became more complex and significant, the character of his role changed and the demands on him to prepare more carefully for performing h/er role increased proportionately. For years, it was assumed the principles of pedagogy could be applied to adult learning. Research indicated this was not true. Adults were different from children. Knowles (1950) stated, "good adult educators don't just happen; they become good by learning these principles and techniques." As a result, the role of the adult educator moved gradually away from the amateur toward that of trained specialist. Where once the adult educator was seen as "one who educates adults," he now was becoming a "change agent" performing a "helping role." His part in this process was that of helper, guide, encourager, consultant, and resource--not that of transmitter, disciplinarian, judge and authority. He was ultimately, Knowles decided, the "facilitator" of learning. Knowles (1978) concluded that even though adult education was a concern of the human race for a long time, little thinking, investigating and writing about it had occurred. Though the Chinese, Hebrew, Greek and Roman teachers taught adults, there was little in their writing about the psychology of adult learning. They described the ends of adult learning but not much about the means. Up until the Twentieth Century, there was only one framework for all of education, for children and adults alike--pedagogy. In spite of the fact that pedagogy literally means "the art and science of teaching children" (p. 27). Two streams of inquiry launched the beginning of the inquiry into the psychology of adult education in America. The scientific stream, which sought to discover new knowledge through rigorous experimental investigation, was launched by Edward L. Thorndike with the publication of his Adult Learning in 1928 and his Adult Interests in 1935, and Herbert Sorenson's Adult Abilities in 1938. The artistic mainstream sought to discover new knowledge through intuition and the analysis of experience that was concerned with "how" adults learn was launched with the publication of Eduard C. Lindeman's The Meaning of Adult Education in 1926. Lindeman laid the foundation for a systematic theory about adult learning with statements like: "...the approach to adult education will be via the route of situations, not subjects. Our academic system has grown in reverse order: subjects and teachers constitute the starting-point, students are secondary. In conventional education the student is required to adjust himself to an established curriculum; in adult education the curriculum is built around the student's needs and interests. Every adult person finds himself in specific situations with respect to his work, his recreation, his family-life, his community-life, etc.-situations which call for adjustments. Adult education begins at this point. Subject matter is brought into the situation, is put to work, when needed. Text and teachers play a new and secondary role in this type of education; they must give way to the primary importance of the learners (pp. 8-9). The resource of highest value in adult education is the learner's experience. If education is life, then life is also education. Too much of learning consists of vicarious substitution of someone else's experience and knowledge. Psychology has taught us, however, that we learn what we do, and that therefore, all genuine education will keep doing and thinking together...Experience is the adult learner's living textbook (pp. 9-10). Adult education presents a challenge to static concepts of intelligence, to the standardized limitations of conventional education and to the theory which restricts educational facilities to an intellectual class (pp. 27-28)... In short, my conception of adult education is this: a cooperative venture in non-authoritarian, informal learning, the chief purpose of which is to discover the meaning of experience (Gessner, 1956, p. 160). Knowles summarized Lindeman's work by proposing several key assumptions about adult learners that added to the foundation stones of the psychology of modern adult learning theory: 1. Adults are motivated to learn as they experience needs and interests that learning will satisfy; therefore, these are the appropriate starting points for organizing adult learning activities. 2. Adults' orientation to learning is life-centered; therefore, the appropriate units for organizing adult learning are life situations, not subjects. 3. Experience is the richest resource for adults' learning; therefore, the core methodology of adult education is the analysis of experience. 4. Adults have a deep need to be self-directing; therefore, the role of the teacher is to engage in a process of mutual inquiry with them rather than to transmit his or her knowledge to them and then evaluate their conformity to it. 5. Individual differences among people increase with age; therefore, adult education must take optimal provision for differences in style, time, place, and pace of learning. Lindeman did not differentiate between adult and youth education, but rather adult and "conventional" education implying that children might learn better when their needs and interests, life situations, experience, self-concepts, and individual differences were taken into account in creating learning experiences (Knowles, 1978, p. 31). Knowles fully supported this position. In reviewing the existing research about how adults learn, Kidd (1973) found two facts: first, the practical limit of one's maximum ability or potential capacity to learn; and second, the psychological limit which each man places upon himself. Unfortunately, the barriers that most restrict and hobble adults were those which adults fashion for themselves. Many myths and fables, religious literature and secular admonitions, learned histories and old wive's tales are full of references to the human inadequacy to learn. The task of adult educator is to replace these myths with facts. Kidd described the myths and facts as follow: Myth 1. You can't change human nature. Fact 1. The truth is that human behavior is changed every day, and human nature and human personality can be profoundly reshaped. Myth 2. You can't teach an old dog new tricks. Fact 2. The evidence suggests that the capacity for adults to learn new information is virtually unlimited and only controlled by the motivation of the individual to pursue new learning projects. Myth 3. The "hole in the head" theory of learning. Childrens' minds are easier to penetrate than adults whose attics are stuffed with information already. Fact 3. Adults are ready and willing to learn anything and at anytime when the need arises for them to solve new problems facing them in their lives. Secondly, they approach the learning process often with more enthusiasm and less resistance than children, do not need to be disciplined and often are self-motivated enough to pursue learning with little or no guidance from a formal instructor. Myth 4. The all-head notion of learning. Learning is completely an affair of the mind. It is an entirely rational, intellectual process. Fact 4. Humans are much more than intellect. They are emotions and feelings and connected intimately with a physical body capable of learning profound new behaviors. Myth 5. The "bitter-sweet" notions. Learning is either all drudgery or supposed to be all "fun and games." Fact 5. Learning is neither all drudgery nor fun and games. It is a pleasant mixture of both, sometimes difficult and at the same time, exciting, often exhilarating. Myth 6. The mental age of the average adult is twelve years. Fact 6. The adult is not just a large child; the cells of his body are different, his experiences are vastly different, and data derived from research indicate that the adult's capacity to learn and grow long into old age decreases very little. Myth 7. Unless you have a high IQ, all hope abandon. Fact 7. There is a great part of human life, human achievement, and human dignity that is not at all comprehended by even the best intellectual standards. There are other kinds of worthiness to be sought after and nourished. Concentrating all attention on what is measured by rather imperfect instruments is to omit much of what is richest in life (p. 60). Up until the 1950's, Knowles (1970) wrote, most of what was known about learning was derived from studies of learning in children and animals, and the predominant teaching methodologies were developed from experiences educating children under conditions of compulsory education. These theories about the learning-teaching transaction were based on the definition of education as a process for transmitting the culture. From these theories, Knowles believed the technology of "pedagogy" emerged. This was a term taken from the Greek stem, "paid" (meaning "child") and "agogas" (meaning "leading"). Knowles' own working definition of pedagogy was the art and science of teaching children. Somewhere in history, he hypothesized that the "children" part of the definition got misplaced. All education evolved to mean "pedagogy," the art and science of teaching. In many books on adult education, writers often referred to the "pedagogy of adult education" not upset about the contradiction in terms. Knowles maintained this was the basic reason adult education did not impact western civilization to any great extent for many years. He observed that teachers of adults only knew how to teach them as if they were children and not mature, self-assured adult learners (p. 37). Another problem with pedagogy that Knowles (1970) described was the archaic notion of the purpose of education; namely, the transmittal of knowledge. This notion was repeatedly challenged by all the current social analysts, educators and futurists. Consider the following graphic representing the relationship between the time-span of social change to the individual life span. Earlier, Toffler (1980) described how exponential change was going to continue to affect humans approaching the 21st Century. Third Wave civilizations would experience major social change perhaps every five years. It was not feasible to define education as a process of merely transmitting knowledge, but as a lifelong process of discovering what is not known and then making successful applications in daily life to solve the new and unique problems presenting themselves to the individual. What children should learn, Knowles (1970) wrote, is not what adults think they ought to know. They want to learn how to inquire effectively so they can continue to grow and develop all through their lives. In fact, traditional pedagogy, from his point of view, was irrelevant to the modern requirements for the education of both children and adults (p. 38). Knowles noted that skilled adult educators had known for a long time they could not teach adults as children were traditionally taught. Adults learn differently. They were voluntary learners, and avoided learning experiences that did not meet their needs. What adult educators did not have was a coherent theory of education based upon sound principles of a psychology of adult education to justify their efforts (p. 38). Tough (1979) believed that the importance to society of adult learning efforts can best be grasped by imagining what would happen to our society if all learning projects ceased. "What would happen to industrial firms, business corporations, and government departments if the executives made all decisions as soon as they were told of a problem without bothering to learn anything more about it? Suppose new employees, or those recently promoted, did not bother trying to learn how to handle their new responsibilities? What would happen to our health if all medical personnel refused to make any effort to keep up with new drugs, and procedures in medicine? What would happen to our children if no parents read about child care, if no one went to counselors and lawyers for help? What if no leader or citizen tried to learn about history, philosophy, religion, evolution, alternative futures, social problems, recreational activities, or the arts? It is clear that adult learning and change are important to society and to the individual" (p. 32). Adult Education theorists in Europe and America concurrently were developing a distinctive psychology of adult learning. Evolving from their work was a new technology for the education of adults called "andragogy", based on the Greek word "aner" (with the stem andr-) meaning "man." According to Susan Savivec (1968), Andragogy is the art and science of helping adults learn (p.69). Using her definition, Knowles (1970) launched the development of a comprehensive psychology of adult education which would support adult learning, and ultimately, lifelong learning (LLL). Knowles (1970) cited a number of studies in several Western countries which indicated that some anticipated use or application of the knowledge and skill was the strongest motivation for the majority of learning projects undertaken by adults. Most learning projects were motivated by some fairly immediate problem, task, or decision that demands certain knowledge and skill on the part of the adult learner. In relatively few learning projects was the person interested in mastering an entire body of subject matter (p. 23). Tough's (1979) research supported the conclusion that adult learning was generally practical in nature. In the United Kingdom, Robinson (1965) noted that most adult learning arose from the personal, practical needs of everyday life, not from some intellectual curiosity about an academic body of knowledge. In France, a survey conducted by Dumazedier (1967) also found an emphasis on practical or technical knowledge: "The preferred topics are connected to utilitarian preoccupations, answering a need for information about matters affecting daily life." In Canada, a study of 35 learning projects found that the desire to use or apply the knowledge and skill was the strongest motivation in 71% of the projects and was present in every other project (Tough, 1979). In many learning projects, this reason was even stronger for continuing than beginning. Apparently, some learners as they proceed with a project discover some unexpected uses for their knowledge and skill. In another Canadian study, Knoepfli (1971) interviewed 21 women who were responsible for forming 21 autonomous learning groups, and found each of the women, to at least some extent, was motivated by this reason--to apply what they learned to their lives. The 21 women mentioned a total of 66 specific applications of their newly acquired knowledge and skills. Knowles (1967, p. 278) pointed out that adults "engage in learning largely in response to pressures they feel from current life problems, then time perspective is one of immediate application...They tended to enter any educational activity in a problem-centered (not subject-centered) frame of mind." The practical nature of adult learning was also pointed out by Love (1953), Johnstone and Rivera (1965), and Parker and Paisley (1966). Houle (1961) found several goal-oriented learners - people who gained knowledge in order to put it to use in achieving some goal. Sheffield (1964) and Flaherty (1968) using factor analysis, found two sorts of goal orientations: in one, the knowledge and skills are to be used in achieving a personal goal; in the other, they are used for a society or community goal. All these research studies supported Knowles (1978) contention that adult learning meet three needs -- individual, community, and institutional. Knowles (1970) believed adult education meant more than just helping adults learn rote information, because the process of maturing toward adulthood begins in childhood and continues as more and more characteristics of the adult emerge in the child/adolescent. For him, andragogy was based upon four assumptions about the psychology of adult learners that were different from those for children. As a person matures: 1. His self-concept moves from dependency toward self-direction (independence). 2. He amasses a body of experience that becomes a resource for learning (experience). 3. His readiness to learn is oriented developmental tasks related to his social roles (readiness). 4. His time perspective changes and he no longer wants to postpone but immediately apply what he learns (application) (p.39). Describing the differences between children and adults, Knowles (1970) maintained that children enter the world as dependent and their first image of themselves as a separate identity is experiencing how h/er life is managed by the adult world. "The adult's world impacts on him. As he matures, he sees himself as being capable of self-direction. The adult world often does not. Rebellion against the adult world often erupts. The adult world holds on to this dependent personality as long as possible. Adults view the role of children as full-time learners storing up the information adults have decided children should learn. When an individual's self-concept begins to become wholly self-directing, he becomes psychologically, an adult. He experiences a great need to be perceived by others as self-directing. He sees himself as a producer of goods and services. His chief source of self-fulfillment is now to perform as a worker, a spouse, a parent and citizen" (p. 39). Whereas, children expect to be directed by adults, adults need to be treated with respect, to make their own decisions, and to act as unique human beings. Adults avoid situations in which they feel they are being treated like children. Knowles (1970) believed that many adult learners store painful memories of their earlier learning experiences, and for the adult to be enticed back into systematic learning, the rewards of learning would have to outweigh the anticipated pain of learning. Once a teacher places an adult learner into a dependent role, Knowles postulated, he is likely to experience rising resentment and resistance, and the learning experience for the adult will be diminished significantly (p. 40). After a lifetime of teacher-directed learning experiences, the adult must once again learn how to learn. "Once the adult realizes he is responsible for his own learning, he experiences a sense of 'release and exhilaration.' He enters into learning with 'deep ego-involvement.' Motivating adult learners is not a problem if, and only if, the adult educator can make the experience one of self-discovery" (Knowles, 1978, p. 40). Knowles (1970) described the differences between children and adults as illustrated in the following way. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LEARNERS Children Adults 1. Completely dependent-biologically 1. Independent biologically 2. World managed by others 2. Manages own world 3. Expects to be directed 3. Expects little direction 4. Social role-full-time learner 4. Social role-producer 5. Self-fulfillment is pleasing 5. Self-fulfillment found in to adults being a worker. 6. View education as teacher-directed 6. Resents being taught as if he were a child 7. Expects learning environment to be 7. Wants comfortable learning uncomfortable environment 8. Teachers do not actively listen to 8. Expect teachers to listen to them their challenges 9. Have little life experience 9. Possess a lot of life experience 10.Teacher decides what learners learn 10. Adults diagnose own learning The primary difference between the child and adult learner was that the adult was more developmentally advanced. Given this minor difference, Knowles (1970) maintained that all learning, even pedagogy, would benefit by application of adult learning principles. The following are characteristics which indicate adherence to the principles Knowles (1970) believed promoted the psychology of effective adult learning. 1. Learning Climate for Adults. a. One in which adults feel at ease. b. Furniture and equipment should be comfortable. c. Rooms should be arranged informally. d. Decorated with adult tastes in mind. e. Lighting and acoustics should consider declining audio-visual acuity. f. Psychological climate should be one which is accepts as respectful, and supportive. g. Friendly and informal atmosphere. h. Flip charts replace blackboards. i. Teacher views learners as peers. j. Teacher-facilitator is active listener. k. Notion of a climate of adultness in the classroom. 2. Diagnosis of Needs for Adults a. The adult will learn more deeply when motivated by what he knows he needs to learn. b. Self-diagnosis is at the core of adult learning. c. Assist the learner to measure gaps between present competence and those required by the model so he can experience a dissatisfaction with where he is at and what he must do to experience desirable growth. 3. The Planning Process - The Lifelong Learning Principle Every individual tends to feel committed to a decision (or an activity) to the extent that he has participated in making it (VanNort, 1992). a. Basic element of andragogy is that the learner and teacher plan the learning experience together. b. Planning is translating needs into specific educational objectives. c. Designing and conducting learning experiences. d. Evaluating the extent to which the objectives are met. 4. Conducting Learning Experiences a. Andragogical process treats the learning-teaching transaction as the mutual responsibility of learners and teachers. 1. Small group meetings. 2. Planning committees. 3. Learning-teaching teams. 4. Consultation groups. 5. Project task forces. 5. Evaluation of Learning a. Crowning incongruence between traditional educational practice and the adult's self-concept of directivity is the act of a teacher giving a grade to a student. b. Nothing makes an adult feel more childlike than being judged by another adult. c. Andragogical process prescribes a process of self- evaluation. d. Evaluation can be seen as re-diagnosis of needs, because this causes the adult to re-enter the learning circle all over again and often with renewed motivation. e. This emphasis on re-diagnosis requires the adult educator to role-model this practice. Knowles (1970) maintained that "the single most critical psychological difference between children and adults as learners is the difference in assumptions we make about their self-concepts, and this is why these assumptions and their technological implications have been dealt with in so much detail." Regarding experience, Knowles wrote, "a child views it as something that happens to him. It is an external event that happens to him, and not an integral part of him. But to an adult, his experience is he. An adult is what he has done, and because of this, he has a deep investment in its value" (p. 44). There are three consequences regarding the difference in experiences for the adult learner which Knowles (1979) believed were essential to consider in planning for adult learning activities. 1. Adults have more to contribute to the learning of others--they are a rich resource for learning. 2. Adults have a richer foundation of experience to relate to new experiences. 3. Adults have acquired a large number of fixed habits and patterns of thought, and therefore, tend to be less open-minded (p. 44). Kidd's (1973) notions regarding adult experience and how it can be used in the learning transaction was that (1) adults have more experiences; (2) adults have different kinds of experiences; and (3) adult experiences are organized differently (p. 47-48.). Due to the fact that adults have greater experience than children, Knowles (1970) emphasized the need to use learning techniques that tap the experience of adult learners such as: 1. group discussion 2. case method study 3. role-playing 4. critical incident process 5. laboratory methods 6. demonstrations 7. simulation exercises 8. seminars 9. work conferences 10. consultation supervision 11. counseling 12. skill practice exercises 13. field practices 14. group therapy 15. action projects 16. community development In using these methods, Knowles (1970) was promoting the practical application of learning to make it transferable to real life situations. Numerous research studies indicated that the transfer of learning and the maintenance of behavioral change resulted from actually building into the design of the learning experiences provisions for the learner to plan and even rehearse how he is going to apply the learning in day-to-day living (p. 45). Knowles (1970) believed adults learn best when they progress from one phase of development to the next. Robert Havighurst (1961), a developmental psychologist, defined this process as: "a task which arises at or about a certain period in the life of the individual, successful achievement of which leads to his happiness and to success with later tasks, while failure leads to unhappiness in the individual, disapproved by the society, and difficulty in later tasks" Note that Havighurst did not distinguish between children and adults, but implied the principle applied to both. Havighurst's and Orr's (1956) research promoted a developmental phenomenon to the adult years. "They have their phases of growth and resulting developmental tasks, readiness to learn and teachable moments. But whereas developmental tasks of youth tend to be products primarily of physiological and mental maturation, those of the adult years are the products primarily of the evolution of social roles." They divided the adult years into three distinct phases: 1) Early Adulthood; 2) Middle Age; 3) Later maturity. They concluded, "People do not launch themselves into adulthood with the momentum of their childhood and youth, and simply coast along toward old age...Adulthood has its transition points and crises. It is a developmental period in almost as complete as a sense as childhood and adolescence are developmental periods" (p. 151). For Knowles (1970), two principles for the technology of andragogy flow from this psychological difference in readiness to learn: 1. The timing of learning - the sequence of a curriculum must be timed so as to be in step with the adult learner's developmental tasks 2. The grouping of learners - the concept of developmental tasks provides some guidance regarding the group of learners. Homogenous-heterogenous and subgroups must be considered in order to meet all learner's needs (p. 47). The crux for Knowles (1978) was that for a child, education was essentially a process of the accumulation of a reservoir of subject matter -- knowledge and skills -- that might be useful later in life. Children tended to enter an educational activity in a subject-centered frame of mind. Adults tended to have a perspective of immediacy of application toward most of their learning. They engaged in learning largely in response to pressures they feel from their current life situation. To adults, education was a process of improving their ability to deal with the life problems they face. Adults tended to enter an educational activity in a problem-centered frame of mind. This was a fundamental and significant psychological difference that the adult educator must consider in preparing to educate adults (p. 48). Kidd (1973) described four different psychological perceptions of adults regarding learning and problem solving: 1. No "correct" answer. Most of the significant problems faced by an adult do not have a "correct" answer in the sense that the answer can be verified to the point that doubt or uncertainty is removed. His uncertainty usually characterizes problems in business or marital relations or politics. On the other hand, for most classroom problems of children, there is a "correct" answer, in the back of the book or elsewhere. 2. "Correctness" associated with traditions or religion. The situation for the adult learner may be further complicated because for many problems thought there may be no answer that will stand up to rigorous rational tests, some answers are regarded as being "correct" in terms of tradition or cultural habits or religion or an institution. The adult, more than the child, is bound by these stereotypes of what is "correct" and though modification is always possible, such modifications may have to run the gauntlet of rigid internal and external pressures to the contrary. 3. Solutions have effects! Any solution that an adult gives to a problem is likely to have its immediate effects upon other individuals. Many social problems might be "solved" theoretically, but a real-life solution may not seem immediately possible because of the human personalities involved. However, it should not be forgotten that one of the most important purposes of adult education is to give adults the opportunity to work out solutions free from the high, cost of error. 4. Expectations of the "student" and the "teacher" may be different. The child comes to school more or less to learn what the school is teaching. The adult may and often does bring quite a different view to the classroom from those held by the teacher. But the tension set up between the expectations of the teacher and the learner is not necessarily undesirable: it can be the basis for effective learning by both" (pp. 38-39). Kidd (1973) proposed there are four distinguishable activities in the process of problem solving: 1. Awareness or knowing a problem exists; 2. Preparing to find a solution; 3. Attempting to produce a solution; 4. Evaluating the adequacy of the attempted solution. These steps were discovered in many research projects of cognitive learning. They can be learned and made systematic, and adults who become capable of using them seem able to maintain a high level of competency throughout the life span. Processes such as this did not seem to be eroded by age, although the presence of apprehension, fear, or lack of confidence might have a strong negative impact (Kidd, 1973, p. 90). This information supported Knowles' conviction that adult learning was effective when it involved problem solving. In fact, problem solving was the key of andragogy. Adult living was essentially the activity of problem solving, and as the human living condition became increasingly complex as the information age continued to impact all societies, the ability to effectively problem solve would be essential for successful living. The fact that adults were effective in this type of activity throughout their life spans supported the need to focus on this type of activity in adult education programs and in individual adult learning projects (Knowles, 1970; Tough, 1970). Of all the human learning attributes, Ausubel (1963) contended, judgment and reasoning ability seemed to reach a peak later in life. These attributes were expressed both in intellectual and in social psychological processes. There seemed to be substantial evidence to support the view that the greater the individual's intellectual endowment, the less were the deficits that come with aging. Such deficits, if and when they appeared, were often associated with the disuse of thinking faculties. Exercise of the mind seemed to retard deterioration. The older adult could continue to learn meaningful and difficult things, although there was a decline in ability to remember isolated facts (p. 32). Like Kidd (1973), who was breaking irrevocably with pedagogical tradition, Knowles (1970) hypothesized that the modern practice of adult education, or, the andragogical approach, was premised on three psychological assumptions about learning and teaching: 1. Adults can learn - (from Thorndike's findings "You can teach an old dog new tricks.") a. Lack of confidence is sometimes an issue for the adult returning to the learning environment. b. Various psychological changes occur in the process of aging which effect the adult learner. c. Methods of teaching have changed which are more in tune with the way adults learn. d. Adults respond less readily to external sanctions for learning (grades and external evaluations). 2. Learning is an internal process - a. Learning is an internal process controlled by the learner. b. Learning is described psychologically as need-meeting and goal-striving. c. The adult is motivated to learn to the extent that he feels a need to learn. d. The art of teaching is managing the learning environment and the interaction so that both teacher and learner each learn from the experience, but each in his/her own way. e. The implication here is that methods which involve the learner most deeply in self-directed inquiry will produce the greatest learning (p. 49). 3. There are superior conditions for teaching-learning - Figure 3. CONDITIONS OF LEARNING AND PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING 1. The learners feel a need to learn. a. The teacher exposes the learners to new possibilities of self-fulfillment. b. The teacher helps each learner clarify his own aspirations for behavior. c. The teacher helps each learner diagnose the gap between his aspiration and his present level of performance. d. The teacher helps the learner identify the life problems they experience because of the gaps in their personal equipment. 2. The learning environment is characterized by physical comfort, mutual trust and respect, mutual helpfulness, freedom of expression, and an acceptance of differences. e. The teacher provides physical conditions that are comfortable and conducive to interaction. f. The teacher accepts each learner as a person of worth and respects his feelings and ideas. g. The teacher seeks to build relationships of mutual trust and helpfulness among the students by encouraging cooperative activities and refraining from inducing judgmentalness. h. The teacher exposes his own feelings and contributes his resources as a co-learner in the spirit of mutual inquiry. 3. The learners perceive the goals of a learning experience to be their goals. i. The teacher involves in a mutual process of formulating learning objectives in which the needs of the students, of the teacher, of the institution, of the subject matter, and the society are taken into account. 4. The learners accept a share of the responsibility for planning and operating a learning experience, and therefore, have a feeling of commitment toward it. j. The teacher shares his thinking about options available in the designing of learning experiences and the selection of materials and methods and involves the learners in deciding among them jointly. 5. The learners participate actively in the learning process. k. The teacher assists the learners to organize subjects in project groups, learning-teaching teams, or independent study to share the responsibility in the process of mutual inquiry. 6. The learning process is related to and makes use of the experience of the learners. l. The teacher helps the students exploit their own experiences as resources for learning through the use of such techniques as discussion, role playing, case method, etc. m. The teacher gears the presentation of his own resources to the levels of experience of his particular learners. n. The teacher helps the learners to apply new learning to their experience, and thus to make the learning more meaningful and integrated. 7. The learners have a sense of progress toward their goals. o. The teacher involves the learners in developing mutually acceptable criteria and methods for measuring progress toward the learning objectives. p. The teacher assists the learners develop and apply procedures for self-evaluation according to the criteria (Gagne, 1965). Defending his position, Knowles cited Eduard Lindeman (1926), to explain the psychology of andragogy: "I am conceiving adult education in terms of a new technique for learning, a technique as essential to the college graduate as to the unlettered manual worker. It represents a process by which the adult learns to become aware of and to evaluate his experience. To do this he cannot begin by studying "subjects" in the hope that some day this information will be useful. On the contrary, he begins by giving attention to situations in which he finds himself, to problems which include obstacles to his self-fulfillment. Facts and information from the differentiated spheres of knowledge are used, not for the purpose of accumulation, but because of need in solving problems. In this process the teacher finds a new function. He is no longer the oracle who speaks from the platform of authority, but rather the guide, the pointer-out who also participates in learning to the proportion to the vitality and relevancy of his facts and experiences. In short, my conception of adult education is this: a cooperative venture in non-authoritarian, informal learning, the chief purpose of which is to discover the meaning of experience; a quest of the mind which digs down to the roots of the preconceptions which formulate our conduct; a technique of learning for adults which makes education coterminous with life and hence elevates living itself to the level of adventurous experiment." The truly artistic teacher of adults, Knowles (1970) believed, perceived the locus of responsibility for learning to be the learner. In this perspective, he was proposing a radical new paradigm for the education process. He wrote, "the teacher must suppress his compulsion to teach what he knows in favor of permitting the students to learn for themselves what they really want to learn." He called this the "theological foundation" of adult education, and without it the adult educator was more likely to hinder rather than facilitate the learning process (p.51). Knowles again quoted Lindeman: "He is no longer the oracle who speaks from the platform of authority, but rather the guide, the pointer-outer who also participates in learning in proportion to the vitality and relevancy of his facts and experiences. In short, my conception of adult education is this: a cooperative venture in non-authoritarian, informal learning, the chief purpose of which is to discover the meaning of experience; a technique of learning for adults which education coterminous with life and hence elevates living itself to the level of adventurous experiment" (cited in Gessner, 1956, p. 160). When older students were interviewed about difficulties in their educational courses, again and again they reported: 1. Rigidity, lack of communication, coldness and impersonality of the registration procedure. 2. Coldness, hostility, indifference of faculty and other students. 3. Lack of facilities designed for needs of older or part-time students. 4. Lack of assistance in mastering the complexities of the institutional environment. 5. Lack of assistance in mastering the first tests or assignments (Hunsaker & Pierce,1959). These research findings supported Knowles' contention that the psychology of adult learners required special considerations, and unless these were met, the adult learning experience would not be effective. In order to validate his hypotheses regarding these key psychological principles by which adults learn, Knowles (1978) cited both scientific and humanist learning theorists to explain his position regarding andragogy. The three main schools of learning theory: 1. Behaviorists: Represented by Thorndike, Skinner, Gagne, et al. 2. Cognitivists: Represented by Bruner, Ausubel, Hunt. 3. Humanists: Represented by Rogers, Maslow, Jourard, et al. Robert Mills Gagne (1965) stated, "I do not think learning is a phenomenon which can be explained by simple theories, despite the admitted intellectual appeal that such theories have." He believed that a number of useful generalizations can be made about eight distinguishable classes of performance change which he describes as conditions of learning. Type 1. Signal Learning. The individual learns to make a general, diffuse response to a signal. This is the classical conditioned response of Pavlov. Type 2. Stimulus-Response Learning. The learner acquires a precise response to a discriminated stimulus. What is learned is a connection (Thorndike) or a discriminated operant (Skinner), sometimes an instrumental response (Kimble). Type 3. Chaining. What is required is a chain of two or more stimulus-response connections. The conditions for such learning were described by Skinner and others. Type 4. Verbal Association. Verbal association is the learning of chains that are verbal. Basically, the conditions resemble those for other (motor) chains. However, the presence of language in the human being makes this a special type, because internal links may be selected from the individual's previously learned repertoire of language. Type 5. Multiple Discrimination. The individual learns to make different identifying responses to as many different stimuli, which may resemble each other in physical appearance to a greater or lesser degree. Type 6. Concept Learning. The learner acquires a capability of making a common response to a class of stimuli that may differ from each other widely in physical appearance. He is able to make a response that identifies an entire class of objects or events. Type 7. Principle Learning. In simplest terms, a principle is a chain of two or more concepts. It functions to control behavior in the manner suggested by a verbalized rule of the form "If A, then B," which, of course, may be also learned as Type 4. Type 8. Problem Solving. Problem solving is a kind of learning that requires the internal events usually called thinking. Two or more previously acquired principles are somehow combined to produce a new capability that can be shown to depend on a "higher order" principle. (Gagne, 1985, pp. 58-59). B.F. Skinner objected to theories, because the hypothesis formulation and testing procedures they generate are wasteful and misleading. "They usually send the investigator down the wrong paths, and even if the scientific logic makes them self-correcting, the paths back are strewn with discarded theories." (cited in Hilgard, 1966, p. 143.). Skinner (1968) postulated that the end result of scientific investigation is a "described functional relationship demonstrated in the data." After reviewing the classical theories he concluded that "such theories are now of historical interest only, and unfortunately much of the work which was done to support them is also of little current value. We may turn instead to a more adequate analysis of the changes which take place as a student learns" (p. 8). Two concepts lie at the heart of B.F. Skinner's treatment of learning: (1) control. "Recent improvements in the conditions which control behavior in the field of learning are of two principal sorts. The Law of Effect has been taken seriously; we have made sure that effects do occur under conditions which are optimal for producing changes called "learning". (2) shaping. "Once we have arranged the particular type of consequence called a reinforcement, our techniques permit us to shape the behavior of an organism almost at will" (p. 10). Crow and Crow (1963) promoted the principle that learning involves change. It is concerned with the acquisition of habits, knowledge, and attitudes. It enables the individual to make both personal and social adjustments. Since the concept of change is inherent in the concept of learning, any change in behavior implies that learning is taking place or has taken place. Learning that occurs during the process of change can be referred to as the learning process (p.1). For Harris and Schwahn (1961), "Learning is essentially change due to the experience, but it is distinguished from learning as product (which emphasizes the end result or outcome of the learning experience), learning as process (which emphasizes what happens during the course of a learning experience in attaining a given learning product or outcome), and learning as function (which emphasizes certain critical aspects of learning, such as motivation, retention, and transfer, which presumably make behavioral changes in human learning possible) (pp. 1-2). Jerome Bruner (1966) observed, "It is easy enough to use one's chosen theory for explaining modifications in behavior as an instrument for describing growth; there are so many aspects of growth that any theory can find something that it can explain well." He listed six "benchmarks" describing the nature of intellectual growth against which one could measured learning. 1. Growth is characterized by increasing independence of response from the immediate nature of the stimulus. 2. Growth depends upon internalizing events into a "storage system" that corresponds to the environment. 3. Intellectual growth involves an increasing capacity to say to oneself and others, by means of words and symbols, what one has done or what one will do. 4. Intellectual development depends upon a systematic and contingent interaction between a tutor and learner. 5. Teaching is vastly facilitated by the medium of language, which ends by being not only the medium for exchange but the instrument that the learner can then use himself in bringing order into the environment. 6. Intellectual development is marked by increasing capacity to deal with several alternatives simultaneously, to tend to the several sequences during the same period of time, and to allocate time and attention in a manner appropriate to these multiple demands (pp. 4-6.) The most dynamic and prolific of the humanist psychologists, Carl Rogers (1969), wrote: "Let me define a bit more precisely the elements which are involved in such significant or experiential learning. It has a quality of personal involvement-the whole person in both his feeling and cognitive aspects being in the learning event. It is self-initiated. Even when the impetus or stimulus comes from the outside, the sense of discovery of reaching out, of grasping and comprehending, comes from within. It is pervasive. It makes a difference in the behavior, attitudes, perhaps even the personality of the learner. It is evaluated by the learner. He knows whether it is meeting his need, whether it leads toward what he wants to know, whether it illuminates the dark area of ignorance he is experiencing. the locus of evaluation, we might say, resides definitely in the learner. Its essence is meaning. When such learning takes place, the element of meaning to the learner is built into the whole experience" (p. 5). Another humanist, Abraham Maslow (1972) saw the goal of learning to be self-actualization, the full use of talents, capacities, potentialities, etc. He conceived of growth toward this goal as being determined by the relationship of two sets of forces operating within each individual. "One set clings to safety and defensiveness out of fear, tending to regress backward, hanging on to the past. The other set of forces impels him forward toward wholeness to Self and uniqueness of Self, toward full functioning of all his capacities. We grow forward when the delights of growth and anxieties of safety are greater than the anxieties of growth and the delights of safety (pp. 44-45). A third proponent of humanistic psychology in adult education, Sidney Jourard (1972), developed the concept of independent learning. He wrote, "...that independent learning is problematic is most peculiar, because man always and only learns by himself...Learning is not a task or problem; it is a way to be in the world. Man learns as he pursues goals and projects that have meaning for him. He is always learning something. Perhaps the key to the problem of independent learning lies in the phrase "the learner has the need and the capacity to assume responsibility for his own continuing learning" (p. 66). Jourard based andragogical theory on at least four main assumptions that are different from those of pedagogy: 1. Changes in Self-Concept. This assumption is that as a person grows and matures his self-concept moves from one of total dependency (as is the reality of the infant) to one of increasing self-directedness. 2. The Role of Experience. This assumption is that as an individual matures he accumulates an expanding reservoir of experience that causes him to become an increasingly rich resource for learning, and at the same time provides him with a broadening base to which to relate new learning. To a child, experience is something that happens to him; to an adult, his experience is "who he is". 3. Readiness to Learn. This assumption is that as an individual matures, his readiness to learn is decreasingly the product of his biological development and academic pressures and is increasingly the product of the developmental tasks required for the performance of his evolving social roles. 4. Orientation to Learning. This assumption is that children have been conditioned to have a subject-centered orientation to learning, whereas adults tend to have a problem-centered orientation to learning. The adult comes into an educational activity largely because he is experiencing some inadequacy in coping with current life problems. Therefore, he enters into education with a problem-centered orientation to learning (p.58). Human beings seemed to seek after learning; learning seemed to be a condition of a healthy organism. The objective in adult education, Kidd (1973) maintained, was to provide the climate and atmosphere and freedom and self-discipline in which learning is promoted. It is not so much doing something to the body-mind-emotions, but setting up the conditions whereby the person will behave in a learning way (p.14). Knowles (1970) main concern with Piaget, Bruner and other cognitive theorists who adhered to the scientific model was that they were unbalanced in their overemphasis on cognitive skills at the expense of emotional development; that they are preoccupied with the aggressive and autonomous motives to the exclusion of the homonymous, libidinal, and communal motives; and that they concern themselves with concept attainment to the exclusion of concept formation or invention (Jones, 1968, p. 97). He advocated adherence to the humanistic psychological approach in educating adult learners, believing their perceptions were more supportive of the way adults actually learn. Social scientists, and specifically psychiatrists and some psychologists, contributed significantly to the psychology of adult education. Erik Erikson (1959) provided the "eight stages of man," the last three occurring during the adult years, as a framework for understanding the stages of personality development. 6. Young adulthood, in which the basic issue is intimacy vs. isolation. 7. Adulthood, in which the basic issue is generativity vs. stagnation. 8. The final stage, in which the basic issue is integrity vs. despair. Rogers (1951) viewed learning as a completely internal process controlled by the learner and engaging his whole being in interaction with his environment as he perceives it. He further postulated that learning is natural, and required as the life process of breathing (p. 497). He acknowledged his affinity with Gordon Allport (1955, 1960, 1961) in defining growth not as a process of "being shaped," but a process of becoming. Rogers summarized their congruity by writing: "I should like to point out one final characteristic of these individuals as they strive to discover and become themselves. It is that the individual seems to become more content to be a 'process' rather than a 'product'." (p. 122). The discipline of developmental psychology contributed a growing body of knowledge about changes with age through the life span in such characteristics as physical and mental capabilities, interests, attitudes, values, creativity and life styles. Presey and Kuhlen (1957) collected research findings on human development and laid the foundation of a new field of specialization-life-span developmental psychology--which was built on by such scholars as Bischof (1969), and Goulet and Baltes (1970). Havighurst (1961) identified the developmental tasks associated with different stages of growth which give rise to a person's readiness to learn different things at different times and create "teachable moments." A popular portrayal of the "Predictable Crises of Adult Life" was provided by Sheehy (1974) and a more scholarly summary of research findings on adult development and learning by Knox (1977). Closely related to this discipline is gerontology, which has produced a large volume of research findings regarding the aging process in later years (Birren, 1964; Neugarten, 1964 and 1968; Woodruff and Birren, 1975).