Education Strategies for Adult Learners: Important Strategies from Creating a Climate for Learning - Research Paper Example

 The term andragogy is derived from the Greek word aner meaning adult, and is a broad term for adult education. According to Knowles (p.255), the andragogical model is based on assumptions about adults as learners, such as: adults learn when they know why they need to learn something, they have a deep need to be self-directing, adults have more extensive volume and a different quality of experience than youth, they learn in order to be able to perform more effectively and satisfyingly, and adults enter into a learning experience with a task-centered, problem-centered, or life-centered orientation to learning; and adults are motivated to learn by both extrinsic and intrinsic motivators. Science instruction, whether to children or to adults, is not limited to the presentation of topics; it includes “the ability to inquire, the capacity to use scientific principles to make decisions and the ability to communicate effectively about science” (NRC, 1996). Science coordinators, district administrators and teachers who are involved in adult science education, develop and use teaching strategies which include individualized methods. The aim is to teach science in order to facilitate the adult students’ application of their knowledge of science content and scientific principles to everyday environment. Thesis Statement: The purpose of this paper is to investigate individualized strategies used in adult science education. Discussion The learning and understanding of science is based on the interconnected ideas relating to the physical, biological and social worlds (Handbook: 15). Those ideas have facilitated successive generations to increasingly understand the human species and its environment. Science differs from other modes of knowledge; and the fundamental elements of the nature of Science is evident in the modes of developing scientific ideas. Using specific methods of observing, thinking, experimenting and validating, scientific ideas are developed and learned (AAAS: 3). Core scientific competencies are required by individuals to cope with their complex living environment. Hence, the teaching of scientific literacy is based on a competence-based model, both for adults as well as for children. Science teaching traditionally concentrates on the knowledge aspect, together with some procedural skills; but usually neglects the other competencies. The cognitive apprenticeship model of Collins et al (1989) forms the basis of students work conducted alone or in small groups, on questions from everyday life, using the personal computer and the internet to solve the problems. The issues are complex and poorly defined; and the purpose is to enhance students’ effectiveness in their “self-regulated learning process, and foster knowledge without the teacher dominating and providing the results” (Nentwig & Waddington: 251). Instructional learning approaches are being replaced by situated learning. While cognitive theories consider knowledge as an abstract cocept in the minds of individuals, situated approaches emphasize the situation and the context in which learning takes place (Gruber et al: 168). For knowledge transfer to take place, knowledge must be acquired on a self-dependent and active basis within an authentic context. The constructivist view of teaching and learning gives utmost attention to the learning process and the necessary elements that facilitate this process. The six central process characteristics of learning from the constructivist perspective are: learning is an active construction process: knowledge can be acquired only through autonomous and active participation of the learner in the learning process; learning is a constructive process: knowledge can only be acquired and utilized when it is built into already existing knowledge structures, and can be interpreted on the basis of an individual’s experiences; learning is an emotional process: for knowledge acquisition to take place, the learner needs to feel positive emotions such as joy throughout the learning process; learning is a self-directed process: the learner must control and monitor his own learning process; learning is a social process: knowledge is acquired through interaction with others; and learning is a situative process: learning takes place within the context of a specific learning environment that is crucial for the acquisition of central competencies (Nentwig & Waddington: 16). Supporting the constructivist approach as well as Knowles’ principles of andragogy, are Sheared & Sissel’s (p.47) principles of adult education: adults learn most effectively when they are actively involved in decisions about management, content, style, and delivery of their learning; the curriculum and methodology of adult learning is fostered through collaboration between teacher and learner; adults are capable of learning throughout life; the focus of adult education is on the individual learner; and adult learning is based on their skills, knowledge and experience. Zull’s (pp.7-8) concept is that learning is a process of continuous modification of what is already known. This constructivist view is strongly confirmed by neuroscience. When neurons are highly active and immersed in chemicals, changes occur in the synapses. With experience, our networks may become more complex and denser. This neurological complexity can be a component of wisdom. This is the biological form of knowledge. Adult education should take into account the biological basis of learning. Rather than explaining ideas or correcting errors, learners should be allowed to develop their own representations, theories and actions instead of attempting to transfer knowledge to them. Educators should focus on providing skilfully designed experiences whose purpose is to generate new ideas and theories in the adult learner. Strategies for Individualized Adult Education in Science The duration of time in which adult learners are actively engaged in a learning task related to Science: the academic learning time is important in education. Teaching Science through inquiry with individualized interactive and research strategies, has been acknowledged as one of the most effective means of education in the discipline. Teaching Science through Inquiry The role of inquiry in science instruction is very important as stated in the National Science Education Standards. Students including adults and children at all grade levels, and in every area of science, should be provided with the opportunity to use scientific inquiry and develop the ability to think and act in ways associated with inquiry. These activities include asking questions, planning and conducting investigations, using appropriate tools and techniques to gather data, “thinking critically and logically about the relationship between evidence and explanations, constructing and analyzing alternative explanations, and communicating scientific arguments” (NRC, 1996: 105). A problem often encountered by instructors is lack of sufficient time to include inquiry activities in instruction, since the content to be covered is extensive, and the inquiry activities are time-consuming. To resolve this problem, a well-crafted curriculum aligned to the Connecticut Science Framework provides frequent opportunities of varying length and complexity to develop inquiry skills in all students. Reconceptualizing and redesigning the present labs and activities help students to understand science content, and enables them to develop as independent problem solvers. Formulating their own questions, planning and conducting investigations, collecting and analyzing data and communicating scientific arguments would also help students, both adult and children to learn science through inquiry (Handbook: 16). When the instructor teaches a lesson by controlling the question, problem and investigation, it is likely a structured inquiry. The lesson shifts further along the inquiry spectrum (Figure 1.) when active investigation is done by the student. However, every investigation or learning activity need not be placed only as the responsibility fo the learner. A range of inquiry activities is more realistic, with better delivery of instruction for all students. It is part of the teacher’s responsibilities to decide which lessons should be best delivered through a method of inquiry, and which lessons are best delivered through direct instruction (Handbook: 16). Figure 1. The Range of Different Inquiry Methods in the Spectrum structured inquiry guided inquiry student directed inquiry student research (Handbook: 16). Inquiry-based instruction involves taking several factors into consideration. The teacher is required to plan the activity, keeping in mind that it should not confine thinking, but should promote students’ autonomous and constructive conceptualizations. Further, every step of the procedure should be well defined, whether other approaches may be used, kindle students’ interest in thinking out the steps themselves, to find the solution, not provide a data table, but invoke students’ interest to design and explain the resolution to the problem, based ont their own experiment and data (Handbook: 17). Group work is beneficial in facilitating the sharing of responsibility for learning. Through exchange of information, interactions, mutual tutoring and encouragement students are benefited. However, even in the group situation, individualized attention given by the instructor to each student, would ensure that each member contributes to the learning, and that each individual achieves the learning outcomes of the activity. There are ten important strategies in the teaching of science through inquiry method. Create a Climate for Learning: It is essential that the science instructor should provide a climate that enables learning, that understands and fulfills the needs of all learners. In the individualized learning situation also, this feeling of comfort has to be ensured for the student to accomplish learning at optimal levels. In a classroom, it is also important that students should feel physically and emotionally safe, thereby fostering creative thinking, problem solving, and academic risk taking (Handbook: 17). Assess Prior Knowledge: The adult student of Science may have misconceptions about understanding the world, which is different from scientifically accepted concepts. The instructor can plan laboratory activity or demonstration to evaluate the level of prior knowledge and assess the understandings that the student already has about the topic of study. Further, the teacher needs to design learning activities to correct the misconceptions. An example is students may believe that increase of temperature results in substances moving only from solid to liquid phase, by melting. The instructor can demonstrate how the liquid on further heating, undergoes further changes to enter the phase of gaseous state (Handbook: 17). Practice Effectifve Questioning Techniques: Questioning is an effective technique that helps to move classroom instruction from teacher centered to student centered. Simple questions on what the student thinks about the content matter or what he knows about the topic, can implement a curriculum that widens the student’s perspective. A student who can explain his/ her answer using the evidence effectively has a stronger comprehension of the science, and can help other students to develop understanding. Vary the Structure of Lessons: It is essential that teachers should employ a variety of learning opportunities for students to develop an understanding of content, scientific communication and inquiry skills. Traditional laboratory investigations included a well-defined problem or question for the student to answer. This is appropriate only for building basic scientific skills, or learning in a particular context. Well structured investigations should be planned, from the safety procedures to the analysis questions, and students need to be made responsible for identification and design of some or all components of the investigation. It is important for students to have several and varied experiences with inquiry based instruction (Handbook: 18). Vary the Way Students Work: Most scientists work in teams or groups, hence students should be provided with opportunities to work in teams. This helps students to “share responsibility for learning, develop approaches and explanations, exchange information, talk and listen, argue and persuade” (Handbook: 18). Mututally tutoring, encouraging each other, all have a chance to be successful and to contribute to the group’s results. Even in the group setting, individualized education strategies need to be employed to ensure that each student learns and benefits from the planned activity. On the other hand, individual assignments ensure the expression of each student’s own understandings of the topic content, individual accountability and individual feedback. Use Warm Up Activities: This should be done every day, to help students demonstrate their comprehension of a particular content or inquiry standard, and to reinforce scientific content, inquiry and communication skills. The warm up activity may be in the form of a graph to analyze, or a table of data for students to draw conclusions from (Handbook: 19). Create and Contextualize Science, Technology and Society (STS) Activities: STS learning activities are designed to engage students in the application or science through the use of their critical thinking skills and content knowledge. They provide students with opportunities to “examine ideas and data related to historical, technological, and/ or social aspects of science concepts and content” (Handbook: 19). Scientific research or information gathered from outside sources is analyzed, evaluated, and conclusions are drawn. Well developed STS activities demonstrate the valuable role science plays in everyday life. Sources may be the media, for the students to formulate questions about the text and the corresponding content. An example for effective STS activity is the use of a contemporary issue which has no obvious correct answer; leading to enhanced development of the student in reading, writing, listening and presenting. Strengthen Comprehension for Content Area Text: Students should use their self- selected strategies to assist in the understanding of content area text. Before studying text, students must examine “headings, subheadings, bold/ italic embedded words, captions, graphs, charts, and pictures” (Handbook: 19) that may supplement the text, in order to refresh prior knowledge, generate predictions, and establish connections and purposes for reading the text. Various strategies may need to be used, to assist students to understand difficult text, for example by questioning, re-reading text, re-examining the accompanying figures and illustrations, asking the instructor or others for clarification, and attempting to comprehend new vocabulary. After reading, students should be asked to respond to the text through answering open-ended verbal and written questions from the instructor, other students and themselves. Teachers must inculcate the habit of requiring students to look back in the text for specific evidence; and must assist students to comprehend the content area text. The purpose is to help students become independent in their learning, irrespective of the content area (Handbook: 19). Common Assessments Within and Across All Disciplines: Instructors are required to develop common assessment tools for all courses within the content area. Clear expectations should be communicated to all the students, irrespective of the teacher or the course section. School-wide rubrics are common assessment tools which are also varied, formative and summative, and they help instructors to identify student strengths as well as areas in need of improvement within and across the content disciplines. In order to monitor and adjust instruction on a regular basis, teachers must analyze and share student work regularly. Re-teaching and re-assessment may be required where there are gaps in processes and skills causing low student understanding, identified through the common assessment tools, both formative and summative (Handbook: 20). Allow Opportunities for Peer Review: Teachers should provide opportunities for students to regularly review the work of their peers and provide feedback. Evaluation of the quality of a laboratory procedure or assessment of the validity of students’ data/ conclusions are examples for peer review and feedback. Such regular experiences support development of scientific inquiry and communication skills in students. The use of common assessment tools in the peer review process allows students to identify their own and their peers’ strengths and weaknesses in the content area. These collaborative initiatives also serve as individualized science education strategies, because each individual’s contribution and participation is ensured by the instructor. Students revise their work according to peer observations, and this has the beneficial outcome of enhancement of understanding and performance (Handbook: 20). Besides teaching Science through inquiry, other individualized adult science education strategies are as follows: Use of Small Competency Units Connected to Existing Knowledge “From a cognitive science perspective, the performance of a task becomes more automatic with repeated exposure to small meaningful components of the task consistently presented over a period of time” (Gordon & Ponticelli: 24). Instruction that breaks down complex tasks into small meaningful components that are individually taught, enhances learning. The learning of science on the basis of cognitive functioning, considers knowledge as organized in schemas or hierarchical networks or structures of concepts, components and interrelationships. Increasing a learner’s ability to form more elaborate schemas, accessing them more easily, and making learning procedures automatic serve to improve learning. Instruction that enables adult learners’ relating new information to old is useful. New information is more readily learned when it is organized and presented in a conceptual framework using associations, advance organizers, topic headings and other devices used as aids in remembering. It is important to teach the fundamental concepts, rules and principles followed by variations, and then applications and real-world examples (Gordon & Ponticelli: 25). It is also important that learners should be able to correlate the content, instruction, task and evaluation with the goals of adult science education. Provision of Continuous Feedback and Assessment Detailed and specific feedback helps to enhance learning, since the correctness of the adult learner’s response as well as the appropriateness of the learner’s learning strategies are assessed. Further, feedback is important not only on total performance but also on specific task components, so that the learner can discover sources of error. By integrating instruction with continuous assessment, the learner’s ability to identify useful problem solving strategies is enhanced (Gordon & Ponticelli: 25). The Importance of Teaching Metacognitive Strategies for Learning Effective learners use mental models to formulate the task’s challenges and requirements, methods for accomplishing the task, and the context of the task in the area of science. Developing a definite mental representation of a problem space before attempting a solution enables the most efficient problem solving. Learners can be taught specifically to use learning models and thinking skills. The instructor needs to find out from learners the models that they already use in everyday life or work situations. When these existing models are elaborated and refined through the instructional process, learning outcomes are of a higher level. Through effective task analysis, the learner is enabled to identify the development of individual learning models. Additionally, by using learners’ existing models, providing examples and counter examples, and building situations when the models are applied and tested helps learners to identify good models (Gordon & Ponticelli: 25). Establishing Motivational Links Research conducted by Winne (p.295) has found that learners use two kinds of knowledge to learn, task knowledge and motivational knowledge. Students’ involvement in learning is influenced by motivational knowledge which stimulates feelings that learners associate with the learning experience. For adult learners several motivational factors are found to be important: “a stress-free learning environment, peers’ academic aspirations, a workplace culture that emphasizes academic achievement and work-related performance, program accessibility, cohesiveness among program participants, the employer’s concern with program success”, and the individual’s motivation and persistence (Gordon & Ponticelli: 25). Models of Individualized Instruction in Adult Education Mastery learning, personalized systems of instruction, and tutoring are three models of instruction. All the three models of instruction have some common elements: their emphasis on continuous assessment, remediation, encouragement and support. Most of the cognitive science components are learnable. When designing mastery learning, personalized system of instruction (PSI), instructional procedures should be included which have potential for the modification of the cognitive components presented in the embellished mastery learning model (Gordon & Ponticelli: 17). Mastery Learning According to Carroll (p.723), the degree of learning is a function of the ratio of two quantities: the amount of time a learner spends on the learning task, and the amount of time a learner needs to learn a task. Carroll’s model is depicted as follows: Degree of learning = Amount of time spent on a task Amount of time needed to learn the task Bloom’s (p.47) work related to mastery learning instruction is based on Carroll’s model, which implied that by allowing sufficient time to learn a task, and by improving instructional conditions, most students should be able to reach a criterion of mastery. Mastery learning is an educational procedure in which a learning hierarchy is developed, and the adult learners are required to master each unit of the hierarchy prior to beginning the next unit. Mastery is evaluated by end of unit tests that learners must pass. Research on mastery learning strategies indicate that the achievement levels of approximately 80% of students are raised to levels achieved by the upper 20% under non-mastery conditions. These findings apply to many academic content areas including Science, which involve thinking and problem solving (Gordon & Ponticelli: 17). The tutoring and mastery learning research findings confirm the achievement claims. The time claims require further research studies. Tutoring and mastery learning theory generally acknowledges that during the initial learning sequences, extra time needs to be provided to less able learners. The extra time is an aid that becomes less necessary with practice. To raise less able learners to the desired mastery level, additional time must be provided for both learners and instructors. Mastery learning programs when compared to traditional approaches to instruction, produce positive gains in academic achievement in Science, and student attitudes towards the subject. The longer the duration of the program, the higher the mastery levels in Science. Standardized achievement outcome measures yield weaker results than performance or curriculum based outcome measures (Gordon & Ponticelli: 18). Personalized Systems of Instruction Although mastery learning and PSI approaches emerged from different theoretical foundations, they are similar in many ways. The personalized system of instruction (PSI) strategy developed by Keller (p.79), was based on the Skinnerian behavioral psychology. The basic components of PSI include self-pacing, use of human tutors and proctors, the mastery requirement, immediate feedback, and frequent testing over relatively small units. Instructors who endorse the PSI, believe that traditional instructional procedures do not encourage an adequate number of learner responses or provide learners with personalized opportunities for reinforcement to occur. In the PSI method the subject matter is divided into brief instructional units, enabling students to study at their own rate, progressing to the next unit achieving mastery of up to 80% to 90% of the correct score. Those adult students who do not master an instructional unit the first time, are allowed additional time and individualized tutoring until mastery is achieved. When compared to traditional instruction, student achievement through PSI is more superior, considerably less achievement variation, and higher student evaluations. Further, PSI methods were found to be unrelated to increased study time or course withdrawals (Gordon & Ponticelli: 19). The Robin Hood effect which is associated with mastery learning in which slower students benefit at the expense of faster learning students, is not present in the personalized systems of instruction, since students work independently. Moreover, as compared to traditional instructional methodologies, PSI is easily adaptable to a wide variety of instructional situations, and has few empirically indicated negative secondary outcomes (Gordon & Ponticelli: 19). Tutoring Individual tutoring approach to instruction still holds an important role, although large and small group instruction has dominated education in the last several decades. In the adult education of science, peer tutors and home-based instruction are modern manifestations of tutoring. Modern educational principles such as continuous assessment, remediation, encouragement and support are based on the tutorial principles of western philosophers based on their practical experiences as tutors. These principles are the same as those advocated by the proponents of mastery learning and PSI instruction (Gordon & Ponticelli: 20). Tutoring usually produces positive results, as found from a review of the literature (Annis, 1983; Gage & Berliner, 1992). Positive outcomes have been consistently found on measures of achievement and on affective measures of self-esteem and intrinsic interest in the subject matter being taught. Tutoring appears to be a highly effective technique for enhancing student learning for all age groups including adults, as well as for all content areas including Science. Individual Differences: Learning, Human Thinking and Problem Solving Individual differences among learners including adults and children, impact the outcome of science education. Cognitive scientists including Bruer (p.12) and Glaser (p. 29) believe that the main differences in the learning characteristics between novice and expert human learners are found predominantly in the cognitive mediation differences of attention, cognitive style expectancies, and memory organization. It is argued that these cognitive mediation differences in the study of individual differences and the learnable aspects of human thinking and problem solving, are important in mastery learning, personalized systems of instruction, and tutoring instruction in Science. Behavioral Views According to the behaviorists, individual differences are in terms of biological differences and learned habits. Thinking has been viewed as a change in habit strength, problem-solving as related to trial and error application of existing habits, and creativity as an unplanned combination of two or more previously acquired stimulus-response chains. Instruction related to the accumulation of experience, not the remodeling of experience, has been considered to be of primary importance. Instruction involves setting up instructional situations to help learners acquire successful learning habits. “The greater the number of acquired habits, the greater the adaptive problem-solving behavior and intelligence of the learner” (Gordon & Ponticelli: 21). Gestalt Views The Gestalt view focuses attention on individual differences in perception, both biological and psychological. The relationships between attention, perception, learning and memory are considered to be essential. Most of individuals’ perceptions of environmental events are learned. In the process of learning memories are developed which set up expectancies, stereotypes, and biases which impact people’s perception of environmental events (Bower & Hilgard, 100). The learned perceptual templates or expectancies are directly related to stimulus input, and they may either enable or impede learning. Gestaltists have viewed stimulus-response associations as by-products of perception. Two kinds of problem-solving described by Gestaltists are: productive and reproductive. The former is creative, insightful while the latter is application of stimulus-response with simple trial and error learning. Thus, from a Gestalt point of view the primary difference between the novice and the expert learner is considered to be in their learned perceptual templates, which “create learning expectancies, and which in turn differentially effect stimulus input and memory organization” (Gordon & Ponticelli: 21). Piagetian and Neo-Piagetian Views For Piagetians and Neo-Piagetians, individual differences are considered to be cognitive, and are related to differences in schematic representations. These master-cognitive templates serve as logical problem-solving components. Thinking and problem-solving are seen in the context of assimilation and accommodation, and all thinking is believed to be creative. Additionally, the neo-Piagetians focus on the development and use of executive or self-controlling processes. Equilibration is considered as the main type of adaptive problem solving and view perception in the same way as the Gestaltists: considering individual differences as differences in cognitive expectancies and style (Gordon & Ponticelli: 21). Novice and expert learners differ in the number of bits of information they can attend to without support from the perceptual field. With age and experience, the number of things a person can attend to remains the same, 7 + 2, but the bits of information become more cognitively differentiated and sophisticated. From a neo-Piagetian perspective, attention and relating new learning to existing cognitive structures, develop. In order to facilitate learning, a neo-Piagetian would teach the novice the memory and meta-memory which is knowing what one knows, through active engagement strategies such as rehearsals, used by expert learners (Gordon & Ponticelli: 22). Information Processing Views Those who support the information-processing method, believe individual differences to be fixed with attention limitations, and flexible with instructional manipulations control structures. They are mainly concerned with the description and facilitation of the thinking and problem-solving processes and do not specifically address creativity. They provide detailed task-analytic descriptions or computer simulation models of the expert learner’s assimilation processes and construct models to facilitate the acquisition of knowledge among novices (Bruer: 12). Individual differences are considered as the fixed biological control structures of attention, maturational stages and temperament. Manipulatable, flexible, controllable psychological structures comprise differences in knowledge, language, memory organization, mood, attitude, personality, cognitive style expectancies and motivation. These flexible control structures are what need to be modified to improve the quality and organization of instruction. To a great extent, the neo-Piagetians and the information processing theorists are very similar in their mutual focus on strategy- training procedures directed at the novive learner (Gordon & Ponticelli: 22). Conclusion This paper has highlighted individualized science education strategies for adult learners. Knowles’ principles of andragogy or adult education has been identified; the cognitive apprenticeship model, the establishment of the situated learning approach to replace traditional instructional learning, the constructivist view of teaching and learning, and other principles of adult education have been outlined. Strategies for individualized adult education in science have been investigated. Teaching science through inquiry has included ten important strategies from creating a climate for learning to allowing opportunities to the learners for peer review and feedback. Other individualized adult science education strategies that have been described are: the use of small competency units connected to existing knowledge, provision of continuous feedback and assessment, metacognitive strategies for learning, and the importance of establishing motivational links. Further models of individualized instruction in adult education are: mastery learning, personalized systems of instruction, and tutoring. Individual differences in learning have been identified, according to the philosophical perspectives of the behavioral views, Gestalt views, Piagetian and Neo-Piagetian views, and the information processing views. It can be concluded that optimal learning occurs among adult learners when instructors provide the appropriate learning environment and opportunities, and support students in exploring challenging ideas. Works Cited AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science). Benchmarks for scientific literacy. The United States of America: Oxford University Press. 1993. Annis, Linda F. The processes and effects of peer tutoring. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association. Montreal, Canada. April,1983. Bloom, B.S. Mastery learning. In J.H. Block (Ed.). Mastery learning: theory and practice. 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