Andragogy and Pedagogy

Compare and Contrast Andragogy and Pedagogy

Andragogy is the art and science of teaching adults while pedagogy is the art and

science of teaching children. Both ideas involve teaching people with various levels of

experience in life. Adults will often have working experience or at least more life

experience while children usually have very limited or no working experience. Because

of these differences, and the accompanying differences in maturity and independence,

teaching will naturally vary between adults and children. A couple major differences are

in the independences and self motivation of the adult learner while the child learner

generally needs more guidance, direction and external motivation (Bertonline & Sarapin,

2000).

Discuss the Reasons Why Children and Adults Learn Differently

Children and adults do not necessarily learn differently (Bertonline & Sarapin,

2000). Adults have more experience with learning and therefore may have learned more

strategies for learning. Children may need to learn strategies for learning but once having

learned those strategies may use them in the same ways as adults. Children will learn

many things in a natural effort to catch up to adults. They will often be learning the basics

of walking, drawing, reading, spelling, math, science and similar things for the first time.

Adults should have learned to walk, draw, read, spell, do math and science but may want

to learn these topics, or related topics, better and expand to a higher level of knowledge

and accomplishment. Walking may sound foolish or simple but walking might be

expanded into various forms of dancing or advanced walking techniques.

Using One Topic as an Example

An example is writing. To begin with children will need to learn the basics of how

each letter is formed and then practice drawing them. Children should learn the basics of

how different parts of a sentence are put together to create meaning while conforming to

the basic rules of grammar. Adults will have a variety of experiences and abilities with

writing. Some adults have not learned to write as children and will need to repeat the

basic steps as a child would. Adults with experience in writing will move beyond the

basics of forming correct letters and basic grammar toward more complex forms of

grammar. Sentences will flow into paragraphs and paragraphs may become chapters or

sections of a document.
 Reference

Bertonline, G. & Sarapin, M. (2000). Pedagogy vs. Andragogy: A False Dichotomy?

[Electronic version]. The Journal of Technology Studies, 26(2).