Provides descriptions and analyses of the learning patterns exhibited by older adult learners, giving evidence that older adults have considerable potential for structuring meaning. (JOW)

Although educators know that older persons bring experience, curiosity, and motivation into the educational setting, they often do not consider the aged to be engaged in development, especially in the development of trust. Education can provide for older persons a means for focusing on society and self. The classroom can serve as a stimulus to…

At each age learning is a complex interaction of motivation, cognition, and development. In older adults, motivation is often related to a lifelong personality construct or personal meaning that an older individual will seek to play out when given the opportunity in late life. The needs of the older adult learner can be discussed in terms of…

Older learners are often led into adult education by a quest for self-development and the wish to make meaning of the human experience. Adult educators should explore and appreciate the process of human development in the last stage. In old age there can be a merging of the knowledge of the body (life's stories) and of the spirit (developmental…

New approaches to the education of older adults can be identified through a review of the literature on the following topics: developmental perspectives (including generativity and integrity) and adult development, life span habits (as determined by longitudinal research), gender roles, reminiscence, cognitive, and need-based learning. One of the…