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Mezirow and Knowles Theory

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Critically analyse the usefulness of Mezirow and Knowles theory. Is it useful in adult learning?

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Critically analyzes the usefulness of Mezirow and Knowles theory, and whether they are useful in adult learning. Supplemented with an article on adult learning.

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1. Critically analyze the usefulness of Mezirow and Knowles theory. Is it useful in adult learning?

Knowles made a classic distinction between adult and child (pedagogy) learning, and got so focused on andragogy and how freedom allowed adult learners to used their own experience and learn from situations that they found themselves in. This compared to how children learn what the teacher is teaching them. Some argue that he did not really understand education. He defined it this way: "andraogy is the art and science of help adults learn, as compared to pedagogy [which is] the art and science of reaching children" (cited in Jarvis, Holford & Griffin, http://books.google.ca/books?id=Q0OuvGzQvx8C&pg=PA71&lpg=PA71&dq=Mezirow+and+Knowles+theory.&source=bl&ots=vpO5K3Cy4s&sig=QrJef9-zBKKwiG5aTAh5ESOIejk&hl=en&ei=0tvASvqZI5LP8QblxPShAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#v=onepage&q=Mezirow%20and%20Knowles%20theory.&f=false).

The criticism of not understanding education was evident, according to critics, when Knowles later acknowledged that adults sometimes learn from teacher-centered instruction, and children learn from learner centered methods. He was too ...

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