If teaching is about helping others learn, then we as teachers ought to understand the learning process of adults – people who, like us, have spent many years in schools, many years in society, and in some cases, many years working in business.

Adults don't learn like children. Adults are more discerning in what they are willing to learn, more questioning, and more resentful of being told what to learn. They need to see more clearly how what they are being asked to learn will benefit them; for adults, learning is much more utilitarian than it is for children.

Whether for children or adults, learning theories abound. We could consider the theories of Thorndike, Pavlov, Guthrie, Tolman, Hull, Skinner, the Gestalt theorists, Piaget, Freud, Knox, Knowles, Kolb, Bruner, and others. An exhaustive treatment of them, however, would consume this book and more. A variety of good books summarizes these theories; references for some of them are given at the end of this chapter. What we want to do here is to outline the chief characteristics of some practical models of adult learning that can provide a basis for discussion and inform your preparations for teaching.