ERIC Number: ED232493
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1983
Pages: 342
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: ISBN-0-87589-565-4
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Facilitating Education for Older Learners.
Peterson, David A.
A guide to help instructors and program planners understand the educational needs and characteristics of older learners is presented. Social, economic, and educational consequences of increasing longevity are identified. A brief history of education for older people is presented, and research and experience on adult and continuing education are analyzed. Recent study findings concerning crystallized intelligence that is maintained throughout adulthood as well as stereotypes about older persons' ability to learn are reviewed. Adjustments that can be made to increase the learning performance of older people are described, including slower pacing and making provisions for declines in vision and hearing. Attention is directed to the physical, perceptual, and attitudinal changes that older learners experience, as well as instructional methods that appear to be most effective for, and best received by, older learners. The variety of teaching and learning styles are also discussed. Actual models of current adult education are used to illustrate how to design and implement a wide variety of programs, including retraining, second-career preparation, preretirement education and planning for use of leisure, diploma and degree completion, recreation, and coping and change. (SW)
Descriptors: Access to Education, Adult Education, Adult Learning, Adult Students, Aging (Individuals), Career Change, Cognitive Style, Continuing Education, Higher Education, Instructional Design, Lifelong Learning, Middle Aged Adults, Midlife Transitions, Older Adults, Preretirement Education, Retraining, Student Needs, Teaching Methods, Teaching Styles
Jossey-Bass Inc., Publishers, P.O. Box 62425, San Francisco, CA 94162 ($18.95).
Publication Type: Guides - Non-Classroom; Opinion Papers; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Practitioners
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Note: A joint publication in the Jossey-Bass Higher Education and Social and Behavioral Science Series.