An adult

student portrait
R. Koncevičienė
Šakiai, November 29, 2017
 The term "adult"
• Life Cycle Stage
• Status, public recognition
• Social group
The term "adult" is not
synonymous with "mature".
a child

maturation

an adult
 Adulthood Criteria:
• Physical maturity (usually in the age of 18 or
21)
• Legal age (marriage, elections 16-18 years
old)
• Social recognition (social status 25-35 years)
• Psychological (personality) maturity
 Mature person:
• Can look at themselves from the outside
• Can understand and identify their behavior
• Has a certain level of knowledge and life
experience
• Acknowledges the changes
• Can change opinion and attitude
• Is not afraid to be wrong.
 Maturity:
• A person is not afraid to change
• It is based on stability and recognition of
diversity
• There are no limits
Immaturity of a person
Unresolved
internal conflicts

Dissatisfaction Affliction, feeling

and suffering unwell

Misconduct
 Immature people are unsafe, so:
• they are defensive (attack or retreat)
• in a learning situation, they are withdrawn,
• they are passively involved in activities
• they do not trust others
• they tend to conflict
• It is difficult for them to accept new
information
• they are timid when they evaluate their
experience.
Personality Identification
AN IMMATURE A MATURE PERSON
PERSON
has some knowledge but does not Has some knowledge and knows
know how to use it, constantly how to use it, uses it
criticizes
a personal life is a priority, and A professional career is a
only then a professional ambitions priority
go

thinks about the result, wants Focuses on activities, is happy with

more than deserves what they have

want other people to handle their deal with their problems

problems themselves
want to have a high position and study and improve, so the high
get more than deserve position and finances come
accordingly
• Why is it important for the teacher
of adults to know how their
student feels from a maturity point
of view?
 A practical task
What is the difference between adult learners
and children or young learners?

• Within 3-4 minutes, discuss the question in the group

and submit one generalized answer.
• Write down your opinion and hang the paper on
the board.
 An adult/ 1
(by M. Knowles)

• He is self-sufficient and • We must incorporate

he directs himself
• He has the foundation
of life experience and • We need to evaluate
knowledge
them into learning
activity
this and create
conditions for
combining what is
already available with
the newly acquired
knowledge and skills
 An adult / 2
(by M. Knowles)

• They are focused on • We must constantly

the purpose, therefore, emphasize how the
they check the training material taught will
program constantly help achieve the goal
(will it help to achieve
the goal) • We must constantly
emphasize the
• They want to know why relevance of the
they have to learn material, the reason for
something learning
 An adult / 3
(by M. Knowles)

• They are practical, they • We need to be clear

are interested in the about where and
things which are useful when the material
which is taught will be
for their activity useful

• He wants to be • We must show respect,

respected do our utmost for them
to feel equal with us
Are adults worse learners than
children or young people?
 Mental qualities
(by Baltes, 1990)

• Fluid Mind - FLEXIBLE, i.e. processing of

unrelated information

• Crystallized Mind - STRONG, i.e. connecting

not related things (wisdom)
Change in mental
characteristics
Fluid Mind - basic mental properties

25 Years old
 Change
savybių in mental
kaita
1990 characteristics
Kristalizuotas protas
Crystallized Mind - complex – properties
mental
kompleksinės protinės savybės

25 m.
25 Years old
 Why is this happening? Hypothesis
• Genetically determined (expiration
date)
• General deceleration hypothesis
• Damaged ties
 Attention is one of the most
important learning conditions
• How long can an adult keep
attention focused?
Information retrieval

A pit
 Lecture
• "... we forgot what you said at the
beginning because it was a long
time ago, and we did not
understand the end of your
speech because we do not
remember the beginning"
 Individual differences
In the same age group, how do
you think individual differences
over time will change?
• Will grow up
• Will decrease
• Will not change
 Target groups
How can we describe our potential pupils?
• Having a formed identity,
• Originating from different social strata,
• Grown in different environments,
• Having experience of studying in different
schools,
• Having their own problems and specific
views and interests,
• With their own interests and abilities.
 Experiential learning
• Reading
• Listening
• Seeing
• Seeing + Listening
• Discussions
• Training others
 A model for experiential learning

Specific
experiences

Controlling of
concepts and
Reflective
conceptions
observation
in new
situations

Formulation of
summaries,
conceptions and (by D.Kolb)
concepts
 Summary
• The relationship of an adult with learning is not
straightforward
• Adults cannot be taught, they can only learn
something themselves
• Commonly used terms:
TRAINING CONDITIONS
RECONSIDERATION OF EXPERIENCE,
REFLECTION
• Knowledge of the signs of maturity helps to
understand participants' behaviour
• Understanding of the changes of mental qualities
helps to choose the right strategies