[Author’s Name]
[Institution’s Name]
Essay on Adult Learners
Adult learning as an area of study attempts to understand how adults learn. In so doing, all kinds of learning may be studied, including, but not limited to, cognition, brain-based learning, behavioral modification, and social learning.
Within the field of adult education considerable attention has been given to those aspects of learning deemed more relevant to adults. These include adult development and its connection to adult learning; adults' ability to reflect on their own experiences, to learn from their many life experiences, to be self-directed, and to be transformed by their experiences (Mezirow1991). These aspects of adult learning are put forth generically as what adults do. Often, systematic steps of how to engage in the particular perspective, say, engage in reflective learning, are detailed. Facilitators are urged to promote these practices in their classrooms.
Learning and development occur both inside and outside of school, taking place in families, at work, and in other socializing contexts and situations. They understand that learning and development are lifelong processes. Adult life is complex and richly colored by many variables that affect these developmental and learning processes. Adults move in and out of personal relationships, marry and divorce, raise children, establish careers and work in one or more occupations over a period of four or more decades, care for aging parents and/or grandchildren, and confront their own aging (not always successfully).
They interact with various social, communities, commercial, governmental, legal, and educational institutions across the whole of their lives. Adults confront and resolve problems, learn from their experiences (or fail to do so), and pass their knowledge and sometimes, wisdom -- on to their children. In modern society, it is recognized that education is a key to a more satisfying and productive life. Rapid changes in technology, workplaces, communications, and educational institutions have resulted in widespread awareness that education is limited not only to childhood and adolescence.........
