Andragogy vs Pedagogy

What are the differences between adult learning and youth learning? It's an interesting question if only because I've started to address my teenage son's problems with learning and school by describing some of the techniques, tools, and philosophies behind what I have learned in my study of adult learning or andragogy with him.

For example; reflection and retrieval practice. Thanks to a paper I completed for a previous class, I am armed with information on how effective "spaced retrieval practice" and "self-reflection" can have on long-term memory formation. The other day when my 14-year-old son was complaining about his assignment to keep a journal and about the number of take-home quizzes that he had to take, I provided a long sermon on why those are more effective means for long-term memory development. 

Now, these might be tools and techniques that are able to easily be bridged between andragogy and pedagogy but I think they offer a general example of how many of the principles can be shared between the two disciplines. Are there some which can not show that same ability to work in both areas, sure, but while we may learn more on some in our world of adult education, and his school my practice techniques for kiddos, there are certainly enough similarities between an adult brain and a child's brain to allow for many of the principles to be used in both classrooms.



The principles that support pedagogy and andragogy may be similar but it's how they are applied and how they are tweaked toward the specific audiences that would make them effective or not. If anything the effective techniques for andragogy should be used in pedagogy to create a foundation for adults to use when they are learning. By applying some of the andragogy principles to children they might be more effectively used when those children become adults because they will be less novel and hopefully more appealing.