Cut-to-the-chase answers to all of your education questions. Maureen offers advice to parents, students and educators on anything from how teachers should use the internet in the classroom to how parents should deal with a child who hates reading.

Q: I’m preparing to teach my first semester of adult GED. I taught 5th graders for years, but I’ve never taught adults. I’ve always believed that learning is learning whether you’re an adult or a child. Isn’t that right?

When we study Adult Learning Theory, we find that adults learn best when the content is relevant to their lives, when the lessons are experiential and when they are shown respect from the teacher. Well, guess what? Kids learn best that way too. Good elementary school teachers have always known that.

There are, however, a handful of differences. As we learn more about how the human brain processes new information, we see that children’s brains are wired differently and that they organize information in a different way than adults do. Also, adults have more life experiences and more general knowledge they can build on to connect to the information and skills they’re learning. Adults tend to be self-motivated and goal-oriented compared to children.

Recent research is conflicting on this topic. Some reports conclude that it’s not so much that adults and children learn differently, but that individuals learn differently and teachers should adapt lessons for each learner.

So while I wouldn’t necessarily agree that “learning is learning,� I’m certain that good teaching is good teaching. Show your students respect, make the learning experiential and relevant, and adapt for the individual. You’ll do great with your new adult students!