Pedagogy vs

Pedagogy vs.
Andragogy:
What's the Difference?
FOR RESEARCHERS , FOR TEACHERS , LEARNING SCIENTISTS
POSTS
By Cindy Nebel
“Do adults learn differently?”
This has been a fundamental question that I have been asked time
and time again. Much of what we know about learning and memory
comes from research on students – college students (1,2), middle
school students (3), etc. – but usually individuals who are in the
formal education part of life. To generalize from these studies to
someone mid-career, perhaps with grown children, who is choosing
to engage in self-study; to say that we understand how you think
because we know how teenagers think… is that reasonable?
Image from Amazon
This week I’m exploring the difference between pedagogy (the

method and practice of teaching to children) and andragogy (the
method and practice of teaching to adults). In particular, I’m going
to analyze Knowles’ well-known framework for adult education (4)
and compare it to what we know from the cognitive science
literature about how people learn.
Let’s start with Knowles’ framework. Here are the components that
Knowles claims make for successful adult education and how they
differ from the instruction of children:
 Need to Know
o Pedagogy: Learners only need to know what it takes to pass
the class, not to apply it to their lives.
o Andragogy: Learners need to know WHY they need to know
the information.
 Self-Concept
o Pedagogy: The learner is dependent.
o Andragogy: The learner is a self-directed human who learns
more when they have some control over their learning and
don’t just sit back and wait to be taught.
 Role of Experience
o Pedagogy: The learner’s experience doesn’t matter, only
the teacher’s or textbook writer’s.
o Andragogy: Adults have so much more experience in life
that adults are much more diverse than students and
therefore learn more from experiential (hands-on, active)
learning techniques.
 Readiness to Learn
o Pedagogy: Learners will be ready to learn if they want to
pass the class.
o Andragogy: Adults need just-in-time learning so that they
are learning things they can use right away.
 Orientation to Learning
o Pedagogy: Learners see their role as acquiring subject
matter.
o Andragogy: Adults see the purpose of learning as acquiring
information about a task or problem-at-hand.
 Motivation to Learn
o Pedagogy: Learners’ motivation is purely extrinsic – grades
and approval are all that matter.
o Andragogy: While adults do have some extrinsic motivation
regarding promotions and the like, they also have intrinsic
motivation to simply “be better”.
While the above are my words, they are very close to what is written
in Knowles (1989). And, if I’m being honest, I’m really glad I wasn’t
teaching in the pedagogical era that Knowles is referring to. This
seems like a pretty pessimistic way of looking at education and a
negative way of looking at our students!
Image from Pixabay
So here’s my analysis of the difference between pedagogy and

andragogy…
 Need to Know: Even though students “have” to be in class,

they will still learn more if they understand why they are learning
the material – that is, how it applies to their own lives. This is
based on principles of elaboration and concrete examples.
 Self-Concept: Children and adults alike are self-directed beings
and children will also learn more if they are invested in the
learning and view themselves as having choice – one of the
fundamental aspects of human motivation from social learning
theory.
 Role of Experience: Regardless of age, the learner’s
experience is paramount to learning. Whether educators are
connection to learners via their experience with the cultural
norms of childhood or on the basis of their organizational life
experience, it is crucial to meet learners where they are in order
to build on their existing knowledge… and children have existing
knowledge.
 Readiness to Learn: Again, while students “have” to be in
class, that doesn’t automatically make them “ready to learn”. As
with adults, students will be more engaged with their learning if
they see the purpose and are able to apply it immediately in
their worlds.
 Orientation to Learning: While fundamentally, yes, the role of
pedagogy is subject matter acquisition, that learning is enhanced
when learners are able to mentally engage with the material in
some way. However, there is also a difference here in novice and
advanced learners. Any learner (adult or child) who is
approaching material for the first time will be a novice, acquiring
subject matter. But as that individual learns more, they will be
able to grapple with the information, elaborate, and problem-
solve. While adults in general have more knowledge than
children, that is only true in certain domains and adults would
likely have a similar orientation to children in domains in which
they are novices.
 Motivation to Learn: While there is certainly extrinsic
motivation built into our education systems, students will again
be more engaged in the learning process if they are intrinsically
motivated and interested in the material.
Now, it should be noted that Knowles himself recognized that this

shouldn’t be considered a theory of adult learning but more a set of
assumptions. And in reality, I think his assumptions about adult
learners are pretty spot on. The problem is that he assumed that
these things were not true of students.
From what I can tell (and from what others have shared on twitter, it
seems as though pedagogy has shifted to look more and more like
the andragogy that Knowles describes. The primary difference
between child and adult learners? Their motivation to learn…
sometimes. Children are put in classrooms and aren’t really given a
choice about whether or not to be there, although when they do feel
as though they have choice they will be more motivated to learn.
Adults sometimes are choosing to learn. This is certainly true for
adults coming back to school, but I would argue that most adults are
put in formal or informal learning situations that they also aren’t
choosing. Ever sat through an annoying PD session that had nothing
to do with your role? Completed that annual training that required
you to watch a bunch of online videos and take a quiz? How
engaged were you in those learning situations?
There are some fundamental ideas in here about what motivates

learners to be engaged and involved in their own learning, but those
ideas are true for children and adults. What varies is their prior
knowledge and the way in which their learning can apply to their
environments.
Do adults learn differently? In some ways, yes, because their

interests and environments are different than those of children. And
yes, there are developmental differences between children and
adults that might require various learning strategies to be tweaked
or scaffolded (5), but those weren’t the differences that Knowles was
referring to.
Bottom Line
Educators should know their learners, make content relevant to
those individuals, give them choice in the learning process, and
build on their prior knowledge – whether they are novices or experts
in the domain at hand. These principles are true for learners of any
age.
References:
(1) Roediger III, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced

learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention.
Psychological science, 17(3), 249-255.
(2) Karpicke, J. D., & Bauernschmidt, A. (2011). Spaced retrieval:

absolute spacing enhances learning regardless of relative spacing.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and
Cognition, 37(5), 1250.
(3) McDaniel, M. A., Agarwal, P. K., Huelser, B. J., McDermott, K. B., &
Roediger III, H. L. (2011). Test-enhanced learning in a middle school
science classroom: the effects of quiz frequency and placement.
Journal of Educational Psychology, 103(2), 399.
(4) Knowles, M. S. (1989). The making of an adult educator: An

autobiographical journey. Jossey-Bass.
(5) Karpicke, J. D., Blunt, J. R., & Smith, M. A. (2016). Retrieval-based

learning: Positive effects of retrieval practice in elementary school
children. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 350.

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Pedagogy vs.

“Do adults learn differently?”

Image from Amazon

This week I’m exploring the difference between pedagogy (the

So here’s my analysis of the difference between pedagogy and

 Need to Know: Even though students “have” to be in class,

Now, it should be noted that Knowles himself recognized that this

There are some fundamental ideas in here about what motivates

Do adults learn differently? In some ways, yes, because their

(1) Roediger III, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced

(2) Karpicke, J. D., & Bauernschmidt, A. (2011). Spaced retrieval:

(4) Knowles, M. S. (1989). The making of an adult educator: An

(5) Karpicke, J. D., Blunt, J. R., & Smith, M. A. (2016). Retrieval-based

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