The Older Adult and Learning

TOPICS COVERED IN THIS PAPER

Foreward

Table of Contents

List of Tables

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

General Statement

Problem Setting

Purpose of the Study

Questions to be Answered

Limitations of the Study

Definition of Terms

Outline of the Study

CHAPTER 2. REVIEW OF SELECTED LITERATURE

Introduction

Inhibitors to Learning

Learning Needs

Learning Activity

CHAPTER 3. DESIGN OF THE STUDY

Type of Study

Hypotheses

Data Collection Procedures

The Interview Schedule

Interviewing Process

Reliability

Validity

Population for the Study

Data Analysis

The Respondents

General Information

Hypothesis Testing

CHAPTER 4. FINDINGS

Introduction

Obstacles to Learning

Instrumental and Expressive Learning

Learning Projects

CHAPTER 5. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND IMPLICATIONS

An Overview

Recommendations

General Information

The Adult and Continuing Educator

Additional Research Needs

Conclusions

An Invitation

REFERENCES

APPENDIX A: DATA COLLECTION MATERIALS AND RELATED INFORMATION

APPENDIX B: MISCELLANEOUS TABLES; INSTRUMENTAL AND EXPRESSIVE PREFERENCES

APPENDIX C: COMPARISON DATA ON LEARNING PROJECTS

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE 1. Participants in Formal Adult Education Programs as a Percentage of the Total Eligible Population by Age, United States, May, 1969

TABLE 2. A Comparison of Summary Statistics from Five Research Studies on Learning Projects

TABLE 3. Various Demographic Characteristics for the Study’s Respondents

TABLE 4. Crossbreak Comparison of Selected Study Demographic Variables with 1970 U. S. Census Data for Nebraskans (55 Years of Age and Older)

TABLE 5. Obstacles to Learning Activity Ranked by the Numbers Indicating Yes

TABLE 6. Course Selection Preferences Ranked by the Numbers Indicating No

TABLE 7. Preferences Toward Instrumental and Expressive Forms of Learning

TABLE 8. Crossbreak Comparisons of Various Demographic Variables with Instrumental or Expressive Learning Preferences

TABLE 9. T-test Comparisons of Various Demographic Variables with the Instrumental and Expressive Learning Projects

TABLE 10. Older Adults’ Learning Projects: General Descriptive Information

TABLE 11. Number of Learning Projects Conducted in a Year

TABLE 12. Number of Hours Spent in Learning in a Year

TABLE 13. Comparisons of Learning Projects Information with Demographic Variables

TABLE 14. Learning Projects: Supportive Information

TABLE 15. Frequency of Type of Primary Planners of Learning Projects

TABLE 16. Comparison of Subject Matter Area by Various Demographic Variables

TABLE 17. T-test Comparison of Various Demographic Variables with the Number of Hours Spent Annually in Learning

TABLE 18. T-test Comparison of Various Demographic Variables with the Number of Annual Learning Projects

TABLE 19. Crossbreak Comparisons of Various Demographic Variables with Instrumental or Expressive Learning Projects

TABLE 20. Crossbreak Comparisons of Various Demographic Variables with All Instrumental or Expressive Learning Preferences

TABLE 21. T-test Comparisons of Various Demographic Variables with the Number of Instrumental and Expressive Learning Projects

TABLE 22. A Comparison of Summary Data from Six Research Studies on Learning Projects

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

General Statement

The largest minority group in the nation today is the elderly and it ;is proportionately growing larger each year. Yet equal educationa1 opportunity for the elderly at this point in time is more a myth than a reality. Out of "the 1971 White House Conference on Aging" came a very powerful statement related to education and the aging:

Education is a basic right for all persons of all age groups. It is continuous and henceforth one of the ways of enabling older people to have a full and meaningful life, and means of helping them develop their potential as a resource for the betterment of society. (1971 White House Conference on Aging, p. 6)

Few individuals would think that an older citizen should be denied an equal education, but the fact remains a very small percentage of the individuals over the age of 55 do involve themselves in formal educational programs (see Table 1). However, a review of almost any flyer or catalog describing the adult education programs will reveal an increasing desire to provide courses and activities to older people.

Table 1. Participants in Formal Adult Education Programs As a Percentage of the Total Eligible Population by Age, United States, May, 1969.

Age	Population in Each Age Group	% Who Participated in Adult Education
17-24	24,800,000	18.0
25-34	23,600,000	18.2
35-44	22,700,000	13.5
45-64	22,700,000	09.4
55-64	17,900,000	04.5
65 & Over	18,600,000	01.6

Oakes (1971), p. 11.

If a variety of educational opportunities are available to older citizens, the question may be raised as to why the elderly are not more involved. Are they just not interested, or are there subtle discriminating factors that inhibit equality in educational opportunities? Before dealing with such a question, a closer look at the older American is in order.

Of the total population of 210 million, according to recent census information, 21 million Americans are over the age of 65. Having this large a percentage of our society 65 or older is only a current day phenomenon, and it appears that the percentage will increase. The 65 and over population has been growing faster than the rest of the population for several decades, there now exist seven times as many people over the age of 65 as there were in 1900. With further advances in the medical field, the number of years a person 65 years of age would expect to live could double or triple.

California, New York, Pennsylvania, Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Texas and Michigan account for over 50% of the older population in the United States. Over 60% live in metropolitan areas, mostly in the city center areas. Some 40% of the older population live in nonmetropolitan areas, mostly living in small towns. Over 95% live within the community, and not in an institution. Of this group, over 25% live alone or with individuals other than relatives. There are approximately 140 women to every 100 men, and 4 widows to every widower, in the over 65 age group (U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1974).

Transportation and mobility is often a problem for this age group. Simple shopping excursions and medical visits can create major problems due to lack of adequate travel facilities for the elderly. Of the total elderly population living outside of institutions, 86% have some chronic health condition. While the majority of the chronic conditions do not interfere to a great extent with mobility, 6% of the elderly population need to be helped by another person, and 5% are housebound. Some of the major chronic conditions affecting the elderly are arthritis, rheumatism, hearing impairment, and digestive problems. About 90% of the elderly population wear some form of corrective lens, and 5% wear hearing aids (Weg, 1974).

Many of the elderly are subjected to inadequate housing, poor nutrition, and sub-standard hea1th care due to a low income level. In 1972, the average income of a retired couple was $4,967 while 53% of all individuals living alone or with non-re1atives made less than $2,500 (Weg, 1974). Although in the general population the number of individuals classified as poor is decreasing, the elderly poor compose a slowly growing proportion of the total.

As of 1972 there were more than 2 million individuals over the age of 65 who were "functionally illiterate." More than 12% of the total elderly population had completed less than 5 years of school. Of the racial minorities included in this group, 38.7% had completed less than 5 years of school. Only 32% of the total elderly sample had completed four years of high school, with only 12.9% of the minority group members having completed four years of high school. Only 7% of all individuals over the age of 65 have college degrees (Weg, 1974).

The Nebraska Commission on Aging's series "Aging in Nebraska" pointed out some interesting facts about the elderly in Nebraska. The past century has seen persons 65 and over grow from 1% of the Nebraska population to nearly 12.4%. The past decade has seen a 43.1% increase in women aged 74 and older which makes them, percentage wise, the fastest growing segment of the Nebraska population. Between the years 1960 to 1970, an average of 5.3 persons age 65 and older joined the Nebraska population each day (Nebraska Commission on Aging, 1973). While many states, as previously discussed, have more total numbers of elderly than Nebraska, on a percentage basis Nebraska and Iowa are tied for second for having the highest proportion of its population over the age of 65. Only Florida has a higher percentage total (Nebraska Commission on Aging, 1973).

Problem Setting

There has been a great amount of literature about the older adult and learning, but much of this material seems to be based more on myth than reality. Many authors have thought that learning needs as well as other needs and capabilities decline with age. Recent research has challenged this assumption, centering around the premise that such declines might be considerably less than has been historically thought. In fact, there is some evidence now available showing that older learners can outstrip younger learners in certain areas. Havighurst, for example, has pointed out that learning is necessary throughout life because of continuously new developmental task needs with life (Havighurst, 1972). As a matter of fact, some of the greatest changes in life and needs for continual adaptation come with such events as retirement, death of spouse, and declining health.

Thus, a variety of stereotypes about the elderly are rigorously being challenged. McClusky refers to these as myths that are being dispelled. He suggests that the elderly, in general, are active, intelligent, and involved people who have positive feelings about themselves and their potential (McClusky, 1974).

A theory in direct opposition to classifying the elderly as individuals with declining needs and capacities is a theory that has been called the “activity theory” (Maddox, 1970). The main assumption of this theory is that an elderly persons morale will be high as long as he or she is able to stay active even if faced with role reductions and changes. This would mean replacing lost roles with other new areas of interest and activities. This suggests that there is even a greater need for continuing education in the elderly years than in the younger years.

Several other researchers have found additional reasons for supplemental education to start at approximately age 55 and extend on through the elderly years. For example, a longitudinal study uncovered data that suggests a process of disengagement does occur in later years, but that psychological disengagement proceeds physical disengagement from society by as much as ten years (Havighurst, 1972). Another finding was that a measure of life satisfaction not only remained stable for those actively involved in various activities, during their elderly years, but tended to increase with age for many individuals (Havighurst, Neugarten, & Tobin, 1963).

Thus, it appears as though those, individuals who remain active retard the advent of the disengagement process and experience continued or increasing life satisfaction. It is suggested here, therefore, that a functional adult education program for the older adult learner is a societal necessity.

Purpose of the Study

This research project was based in part on the work completed by Tough (1971) and some research by Hiemstra (1972a). Tough and his associates found that by defining learning as a series of related learning episodes totaling at least seven hours of effort within a six month period, the typical adult they surveyed annually spends 700 hours in learning activities. Deciding and planning, traveling time to a learning activity, and evaluating personal progress were included in their definition.

Coolican reported on five similar follow-up studies with various populations (1974). These studies revealed that the range of average times spent annually in learning varied from 244 hours for young mothers to 1244 for male professionals.

Hiemstra (1972a) studied both inhibitors to participation and learning interests in adults over 65. This study revealed that transportation limitations and a dislike of going out at night were the top reported factors affecting participation in adult education activities. When asked to select learning activities they might participate in if the various participation problems could be overcome, the respondents showed a much greater preference for instrumental categories of learning as compared to expressive categories. The research to be reported here combined the approaches and areas of focus in both of the above studies.

Consequently, the primary purpose of this study was to secure a better under standing of the learning interests, activities, and obstacles of older adults, 55 years of age and older. It is anticipated that such information will help adult educators in Nebraska and in other states plan and implement better programs of education for the older adult.

Questions to be Answered

The following questions served as guides for the study:

What are the obstacles older adults perceive as limiting to their participation in learning activities?
What are the relationships among various demographic/biographic characteristics and perceived obstacles to learning?
What are the perceived preferences for instrumental and expressive forms of education?
What are the relationships among various demographic/biographic characteristics and the perceived preferences?
How much learning activity is undertaken by older adults in a given year?
What is the nature of such learning activity?
What are the relationships among various demographic/biographic characteristics and the amount of learning undertaken in a year?
What are the relationships between instrumental or expressive preferences and the amount of learning undertaken in a year?

In Chapter 4 these questions will provide guidelines for the display, comparison, and discussion of findings.

Limitations of the Study

In a study of this nature one major limitation will always be the representativeness of the sample. As will be discussed in Chapter 3, an attempt was made to include an element of randomness in the selection of respondents. However, such factors as voter registration card biases, the selection of individuals in residences designed exclusively for the elderly, and obtaining a minority group population contained limitations that prevented a totally random and representative sample. Certainly, the entire State of Nebraska was not represented.

Each interviewer was trained in an identical manner. However, one limitation would be the consistency among interviewers in asking questions, interpreting responses, and recording responses. For purposes of the study it was assumed that interviewers would work in as professional a manner as possible and that respondents would answer questions to the best of their ability.

A final limitation dealt with the fact that there exists an incomplete theoretical framework for asking relevant questions pertaining to older adults and learning. As will be described in the next chapter, a great deal of information presently exists; however, more information is needed and some of what exists conflicts with other information. Consequently, although research hypotheses are described in later chapters it is assumed that follow-up research will be required to better understand the areas addressed in this study.

Definition of Terms

Activity – the term "activity" is utilized to describe any general pursuit of learning that is achieved through a sequence of progressive tasks and/or actual experiences (Verner, 1964).

Adult – Any person who has reached the maturity level where he or she has assumed responsibility for himself or herself and sometimes others and who has assumed a productive role in the community (Verner, 1964).

Adult Education – Relationship between a student and an educational agent in which the agent provides, facilitates, and/or supervises a series of related learning experiences for the student (Verner, 1962).

Clientele – Refers to the person or types of persons benefiting from a specific educational service – the customer.

Continuing Education - "That idealistic and timeless conceptual thread that connects all deliberate efforts to help the human organism learn through life. . . It has become common for adult educators who function within the (formal) context of colleges and universities to refer to their activities as continuing education (Smith, Aker, & Kidd, 1970, p. 28).

Course – Term used to designate a specific type of adult learning which has an identifiable purpose, content, structure, and time period.

Expressive education – Courses designed to help older adults increase the enjoyment of life, to add new experiences, and to express themselves (Hiemstra, 1972a).

Facilitator – An educational change agent who makes particular action possible by being available as resource, information source, and/or learning director.

Instrumental education – Basic or skill mastery courses necessary for the effective mastery of the aging process (Hiemstra, 1972a).

Knowledge and skill – The entire range of behavioral changes: Cognitive, attitudinal, perceptive, feeling; and psychomotor.

Learning – The acquisition of knowledge, attitudes, or skills and the mastery of behavior in which facts, ideas, or concepts are made available for individual use (Verner, 1964).

Learning project -- A series of clearly related learning efforts adding up to at least seven hours of effort within a six month period. The last 12 months from the day of the interview will be the time period in which projects will be examined. Deciding and planning, traveling time to a learning activity, and evaluating personal progress will also be considered as part of the learning project time (Tough, 1971).

Learning for self-fulfillment – The learning projects included here are efforts at learning for leisure, arts and crafts, hobbies, and recreation; included, too, is learning related to music, art, dance, theatre, religion, ethics, or moral behavior.

Lifelong Learning – A process of learning that continues throughout life (Hesburgh, Miller, & Wharton, 1973). It is usually thought of in connection with the need to learn throughout one's lifetime in order to cope with a constantly changing society.

Non-Credit Adult Education – An educational process which does not grant academic credit for application to a specific academic degree.

Occupational, vocational, and professional competence – This includes learning related to preparing to enter the labor market, on-the-job training, retraining for a shift in occupation, and also basic and literacy education. Graduate courses taken by a teacher to meet state requirements is counted here, too.

Personal or family competence – This includes learning for the individual's role as parent spouse and homemaker; it also includes learning related to mental and physical health. An extensive counseling session on estate planning or family finances would be included here, for example.

Program – An activity which is planned and organized with specific objectives.

Social and civic competence – This area covers the individual's role as a responsible citizen, including voting and po1itics, current events, community government, and development pollution, and ecology.

Outline of the Study

The second chapter reviews literature related to inhibitors to learning learning needs and learning activities. Some more general reports concerning the projected growth of educational projects related to the elderly are also described.

Chapter 3 describes the study’s design and includes a methodological look at the following: (a) population, (b) instrumentation (c) the interviewing process, (d) how validation/reliability was accomplished, and (e) how the data were analyzed.

Chapter 4 contains a display and discussion of the study findings including a testing of the study's hypotheses. Tables will be included where they help explain or clarify the data.

The final chapter discusses the implication of the findings and attempts to draw some general conclusions. A brief summary of the findings with suggested implications for further research are also included.

CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF SELECTED LITERATURE

Introduction

Elderly people have been stereotyped in many ways varying from culture to culture and from century to century. In the American society the general perception of the elderly has been essentially negative. In the American society the general perception of the elderly has been essentially negative. Old age is often seen as a period characterized with ever increasing social withdrawal and isolation. The elderly individual is seen as a passive physical and psychologically dependent individual who is oriented toward the past rather than the future (Tuckman & Lorge, 1958). It was found in one research study that young people of college age often misperceive that elderly individuals will be resentful of youth, more often than not in need of assistance, overly interested in their families, and preoccupied with their own death (Kogan & Shelton, 1962).

As was suggested in the first chapter, most of the above stereotypes and many others are being disproved with research. However, it can still be theorized that negative attitudes permeating our culture have affected elderly individuals in their attempts to be successful in conventional classrooms. To add to this problem it is suggested that only on very few occasions have educational opportunities been directed at real needs and goals of the elderly. Instead, “we tend to place them in ‘playpens’ by providing recreation . . . while doing almost nothing to furnish them with the means to keep mentally alert” (London, p. 15).

Having now obtained zero population growth, the average age of the United States population will rise. Two other factors contributing to the rise in average age are low immigration levels and a reduction in the death rate. All of these factors point to a need for an adjustment of attitude on society’s part in relation to the elderly, an attitude adjustment that would specifically include those societal members working with the elderly in some educational capacity.

In addition, it seems safe to assume that the educational level of all age groups will rise with time because of increased opportunity and because of the greater educated young growing older. Thus, it should not be too presumptuous to predict a dramatic increase in demand by the elderly for greater educational opportunities in the next few years. Hopefully, this research will help adult educators understand more about older people and their learning needs, interests, and problems.

Inhibitors to Learning

There are a variety of known or believed inhibitors to learning and educational activity relative to the elderly person. Some of the cognitive inhibitors relate to such beliefs that the elderly face declining memory potential, increasing inabilities to perform paired associate learning tasks, slowness in developing conditional responses, and difficulties in sorting out learning that is related to long, sequentially-related learning tasks. On the other hand, others believe when such factors as time requirements are removed these problems disappear (Arenberg & Robertson, ca 1974; Chown, 1972). Thus, more and continued research will be required before such beliefs can become facts with which a learning facilitator can deal.

Many authors feel more comfortable talking about non-cognitive inhibitors, although the evidence on such factors is probably not even as sound as what is known about the cognitive area. Some of the non-cognitive factors discussed include slowness due to. physiological reasons (e.g., hearing and vision problems), lack of interest, and lack of educational attainment. Other inhibitors described in the literature involve transportation problems, fear of going to learning activities that are held in the evening, lack of awareness of what is available, prohibitive costs, and lack of time. (DeCrow, 1974; Eklund, 1968-70; Grabowski & Mason, ca. 1974; Hiemstra, 1972a).

The United Sates Congress and Senate Special Committee on Aging found income to be a major concern for the elderly. The elderly have an income that is less than half of the income of the younger generation. In most parts of the country that gap is widening. Families headed by an older person had a median family income of $5,453 in 1972, while those elderly individuals still living as a family unit had a median family income of $2,199 (U.S. Congress, 1973). Thus,e1derly individuals numbering as high as 4.3 million are living in households which are considered to be below the poverty level.

A variety of disabling health problems also act as inhibitors to elderly participants in educational activities. High medical cost, the time involved with medical visits, decreasing energy reserves, handicaps, and crippling diseases are only a few of the problems many older people face (Peterson, ca. 1974).

Still another problem to be discussed here is the fact that in planning programs adult educators simply are not considering the older adult as a possible participant (Kabosky, ca. 1974). The fact that only 1.6% of those individuals over 64 participated in adult education during 1969 (as reported in Table 1, Chapter 1) is some indication of this problem. Consequently, it is suggested that adult educators must examine a variety of approaches to overcoming the various inhibitors if the many learning needs of the older person are to be met.

Learning Needs

There are a variety of needs that can be discussed relative to the older person. McClusky suggested several types of needs that education has a potentially powerful role to play in fulfilling: coping, expressive, contributive, influence, and transcendence (McClusky, ca. 1974). He suggests various implications related to education for each category.

Coping needs refer to the more basic needs that fulfill the requirements for psycho-social adjustments and physical well being, Educational programs related to such needs would be adult basic education, health education programs involving economic improvement training and retraining, family life education, and leisure activities. Programs related to the expressive need category would include activities that were being engaged in for their own sake. These could include liberal arts hobbies, and physical education activities. Contributive needs might include in-service training, leadership skill building, and community service awareness activities. Programs related to influence needs could be represented by community action education and programs dealing with leadership or management. The need for transcendence learning could be met through such courses as the study of literature, philosophy, and even theology.

Hiemstra completed a study in which the expressive vs. instrumental concept of need was explored, a broader classification scheme than the one described above. The study revealed that a significantly higher preference for instrumental activities (competency areas designed for effective mastery of old age challenges) was elicited from older people as compared to preferences given for expressive activities (experiences designed to increase a person's enjoyment of life) (Hiemstra, 1972a). Instrumental type learning activities would include course titles such as "Stretching your Retirement Dollar,” "Wills and Estate Planning," "Nutrition and the Aging Process," and “Medical Care in the Retirement Years." Expressive examples would include "Art Appreciation," "Nature Photography," The Archaeology of Mexico," "Three Black Authors," and "Introduction to Crafts."

Other researchers have studied the instrumental and expressive classification scheme. Studies by Goodrow (1974), Marcus (in process), and Whatley (1974) have supported the preference for instrumental courses finding. An important point, however, is that the information on such preferences needs to be supplemented by research on demonstrated actual learning needs in comparison with perceived needs and interests (Hiemstra & Long, 1974). DeCrow (1974) further cautions that the instrumental and expressive categories are quite broad and that dichotomizing all educational opportunities has some drawbacks. Finally, further analysis of what older persons are actually participating in is needed to more fully understand what should be offered.

Another means for describing some learning needs of the older person is to examine those circumstances of life that primarily only the elderly face, i.e., retirement, bereavement, and death. Pre-retirement education, financial planning workshops, and loneliness seminars are likely topics for adult education planners to consider. Perhaps, though, there are better means for meeting these type of needs. Kimmel (1974), for example, suggests that the older person themselves are potentially the best sources to provide expertise and to facilitate learning on these topics.

An important thing to remember is that each elderly adult is a unique individual and different individuals with different needs will demand different educational programs. Birren believes that when age-related differences in learning are found, it is not a primary capacity to learn that makes the difference, but an individual's basic perceptual differences, a mind set, the motivation of the individual, or the physiological state (including that of disease and disability status) (Birren, 1964). All these factors have implications for educational programming and in analyzing learning activity by older people.

Learning Activity

There are many interesting endeavors already taking place to meet some of the learning needs of the older person. Many institutions of higher education are beginning to graduate professional adult educators who have specialized in the area of Gerontology. Some universities and colleges are also offering means for the elderly to enroll in regular programs or to participate in non-traditional programs. The North Hennipen (Minnesota) College, as one specific example, has built a large program for senior citizens with many participants involved in both credit and non-credit college courses.

Various national organizations have also become involved with providing educational to the older person. The National Institute for Senior Centers is currently working to upgrade senior center personnel so that better opportunities for learning can be provided (National Council on Aging, 1974). In addition, the National Retired Teachers Association has a program entitled “The Institute of lifetime Learning,” and the American Association of Retired Persons has a program entitled the “Herman L. Donovan Senior Citizens' Fellowship Program” (Kobasky, ca. 1974).

DeCrow completed a national study aimed at uncovering the extent of learning opportunity in a variety of agencies. Some 3500 different programs were reported from all parts of the "educational field and from a variety of non-school organizations. The study revealed that of the 3500 reporting agencies, 58% had begun new activities within the year preceding the receipt of the questionnaire (DeCrow, ca. 1974). Such findings show the rapid growth in opportunity and the fluidity of the situation.

Within the State of Nebraska a fluid and growth situation exists, too. Within the past year a special state-wide pre-retirement education program has been initiated by the Gerontology Program of the University of Nebraska-Omaha (Nebraska Commission on Aging, 1975a). Many older people have already participated in the program and more will in the coming year. In addition, about 1000 people over the age of 68 participated in adult education programs supported through grants by the State Department of Education (Nebraska Commission on Aging, 1975b). Finally, several community colleges and state colleges in Nebraska have special programs for the elderly (Nebraska Commission on Aging, 1975b).

A fascinating area of study in examining the topic of learning activity by older people is bio-feedback. The controlling of hypertension through bio-feedback, for example, has tremendous implications for the older person (Wilkie & Eisdorfer, 1971). Some researchers have shown that the elderly can learn certain bio-feedback techniques quicker than younger people, suggesting that the elderly are potentia1ly better at self-awareness or progressive relaxation kinds of activities (Woodruff & Birren, 1972). Perhaps these types of endeavors, when more is understood about their potentials and dangers, can be utilized to help the older person become much more skilled at personal problem solving.

A related 1iterature area is the emerging theory base pertaining to adults' learning projects (Coolican, 1973, 1974; Denys, 1973; Johns, 1973; McCatty, 1973; Tough, 1971). Although not specifically concerned with the older adult learner, the material on learning projects is reviewed here because part of the interview schedule used for the studies reported above was adapted for use in the current study.

The research utilized to determine learning project activity has created a good deal of excitement in adult education circles. New attention is being given to the potential of the adult learner, especially in the area of self-directed learning. Table 2 details some of the findings; the data suggest that a great deal of self-motivated learning is taking place.

Table 2. A Comparison of Summary Statistics from Five Research Studies on Learning Projects

Study	Average No. of Projects per Person per Year	Average No. of Hours per Person per Year	Estimate Age Range	Number of People
Coolican (1973)	4.2	244	20-30	48
Denys (1973)	4.8	430	30-55	54
Johns (1973)	8.4	1046	25-50	39
McCatty (1973)	11.1	1244	35-60	54
Tough (1971)	8.3	816	20-55	66

As will be reported in Chapter 4 support for the idea that the older person should have more learning opportunities has been found. Certainly many opportunities already exist and more are being provided each year; however, it is hoped that this research report will help adult educators understand more about the older person, their problems, and their needs so that an even better job can be done in the future.

CHAPTER 3

DESIGN OF THE STUDY

The theme developed thus far in the report points out the great need for lifelong learning to facilitate adequate adjustment in the later years. At the same time, there exists evidence that current learning opportunities being offered to the older adult for purposes of personal growth and development are not being used extensively. What are the reasons for this low participation rate? It is an intent of this study to supply some answers to this ques