ADULTS AS LEARNERS


An Illustration
A group of extension staff were attending a workshop on extension
methods. The topic was "Adult Learning". Instead of giving them a
lecture on the subject, the workshop leader asked the participants to
engage in a short exercise.
He divided them into three groups. The first group was going to
explore the concept "student the second, "teacher"; and the third
group, "adult". He asked each individual to find an object-any
object-which had qualities, characteristics, which could be associ-
ated with either "student", "teacher" or "adult". They had ten
minutes for the search. The object had to be one they could carry back
to the group.
When all the participants were back in the circle, they each in turn
showed what they had found; and they "explained" it to the rest of
the group.
Leader: "Kamau, I see that you have a plant of some kind--tell us
 about it."
Kamau: "Well, I have just up-rooted this from the shamba outside.
 And in this heat it will soon wither-as you see, it is
 beginning to droop already. I chose this, because I think
 a student is very much like a young plant. In order to
 learn--to grow in knowledge and skills-it needs careful
 treatment. It needs to be placed in the right kind of
 environment. It needs the feeding that comes from the soil
 and watering. It needs the attention of an expert gar-
 dener/teacher."
While Kamau is talking, the leader writes up on the board the image,
"Young plant". Alongside it, he writes up the key qualities associated
with this concept of "student":
"Needs careful treatment in order to learn; needs the right environ-
ment and the nourishment of a knowledgeable teacher."
Leader: "And now Pamela. I can't quite see what you have there.
 But you were one of the group looking for "teachers". So,
 what do you have to show us?"
Pamela: 'If I switch him on, perhaps you will see him better. You
 see? He is a torch."
Leader: "And why did you choose a torch to represent "teacher"?
Pamela: "It's the job of the teacher to throw light on things.
 Illumination-that's what learning is all about. But a