• How You Learn
  Throughout Life
• One-Size-Fits-All Learning?
• On The Job
• Brain Work
• Notes From The Lab

One-Size-Fits-All Learning

Do people of different ages learn differently? Opinions vary. While there is little clinical evidence that any particular training method is better suited to mature learners vs. younger learners, there is much anecdotal support that learning styles vary among people, and that age is one indicator of different styles. (ref-6)

That doesn't mean that your best way to learn is the same as or different from the colleague in the next cubicle who is 30 years younger, or older - more research is necessary before definitive conclusions can be drawn. And individual differences are more important than age.

There is some evidence that hands-on learning is more effective for older adults learning certain skills, such as using an ATM or searching the Internet. There is also some support for "discovery learning," an approach that encourages the learner to explore various methods and techniques to find the ones that best suit him or her. Others, however, have found that lecture- or modeling-based learning (that's the kind of learning that happens in teaching hospitals, when young doctors "see one, do one, teach one") is equally as effective as discovery learning in older people. Two factors that mattered more were group size (smaller being better) and the ability of the learner to proceed at his or her own pace. (ref-7)

Other research suggests that age does affect learning styles and preferences. Generational differences may be based on one's early education. The last few decades have seen a shift in preferred learning styles from verbal to visual to virtual, based on when individuals were first exposed to computers. This "digital divide" roughly demarcates those who were formally educated before the widespread use of computers versus those who came to computers in adolescence or before. Those who grew up with computers tend to prefer informal over formal learning.