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The learning methods of children and adults are strongly differentiated as a result of the maturity that adults have over children. Adults are more capable of making decisions concerning heavy and serious matters, so they are more able to guide themselves along the proverbial road of education. The rest of the article deals with how different adults learn when compared to the traditional idea of teaching as applied to children.

Adults are capable of choosing what they think is important to their studies. While children take everything taught to them as equally essential, adults can analyze and rate just how applicable a given subject is to his or her line of learning. This does not necessarily mean that they will not take classes beyond the bare necessities, if given the freedom to do so. What it means is that they are able to place higher priority on those subjects that matter more. Thus, a certain degree of freedom is expected by adult learners.

Adults are also more inclined to understand the intricacies of respect. There will be some adults who would prefer to keep their distance from the educator, and there may be some who would rather befriend their mentors. Either way, they are more likely to approach the instructor in case of questions or problems in their studies. An educator of adults should thus be more open and available to these situations.

If children take everything taught to them at face value, the opposite is more or less true for adults. Many adults will require some sort of validation or proof before accepting something as fact or fiction. For the educator, this means that more concrete and verifiable examples are required.

Adults want to see results right away, even if they are supposed to have more patience. For example, they want to see immediately how the things they learn can be applied in definite situations. More hands-on experiences may be called for to validate learning and assuage doubts.

Adults have more life experience than children, and thus may have fixed viewpoints. The educator should be prepared to deal with adults who are stubborn in their ways and beliefs. This may actually be the most difficult part, since learning is hardest when something is already set in place.

An adult is much more likely to take initiative in his learning. Thus, it is possible to assign advance reading assignments and research projects rather than presenting everything up front. This makes the learning process easier on the educator. In addition, adults can actually teach others who seek their help as far as the limits of their skill and knowledge.

Thus knowing how adults learn, it becomes possible to prepare a general approach that balances direct instruction with initiative-driven learning, while maintaining open lines of communication and interaction. Old dogs, figuratively speaking, can learn new tricks, but this works best if done in a certain way that exploits their characteristics.

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