An analysis of contemporary adult learning theories and the implications for teaching in the local church for spiritual maturity.

摘要

Over nearly four decades of research and practice, adult theories of learning have been proposed, refined, and studied. Common to these theories is that there are clear purposes for what is being done which is communicated to participants in the instruction. When the adult education that takes place within the local church is compared to the vast body of knowledge on adult learning, there appears to be a significant gap. This study establishes a scriptural basis for purposeful intent in teaching, specifically, teaching to obey the commandments to love the Lord with all one's heart, soul, mind, and strength.;The three learning theories that have the most extensive base of research and practice are self directed, experiential, and transformative learning. Self-directed learning shows great promise for teaching in the cognitive domain. Experiential learning for the behavioral domain has both a solid grounding in Scripture as well as significant presence in the social science literature. Transformative learning has been shown to be an effective strategy for affective learning. Ultimately, the goal is to bring proven contemporary adult learning theories and methodologies to bear on the goal of teaching adult Christians to grow in spiritual maturity and obedience to the Lord.;Andragogy is reviewed as a set of principles for adult learning that gives a basis for the contemporary adult learning theories suggested as possible solutions to the learning gap identified. Learning domains from Bloom's Taxonomy are then related to both the biblical commandments and three contemporary theories of adult learning. Cognitive, affective, and behavioral domains are well established based on the work of Bloom (1956). Cognitive learning is associated with knowledge learning and is intuitively related to loving the Lord with all one's mind. Affective learning appears to be the most critical domain for Christian education because it seeks to change the deep meaning structures, emotions, and motivations of the believer's heart. This connection is related to loving the Lord with all the heart and soul. Behavioral learning addresses teaching to actively engage learners in applying what is learned thus, loving the Lord with all one's strength.