Anthropogogy: The
study of human learning
(Greek) – Anthrop (άνθρωπ)
means people and Agy (άγω) means to conduct / lead.
Background:
Neil Postman in his book,
"The Disappearance of Childhood" (1986), describes the life
experience of childhood as mainly social and not only as biological growth.
Postman argues that the mass media, especially television and the Internet, leads
to the cancellation of the barriers that society has created around the world
of childhood. Postman's conclusion is that childhood is disappeari ng.
Nir Golan, an educational and
leadership expert, suggests combining the terms Pedagogy (child learning)
and Androgogy (male / adult), into one term, Anthropogogy: to mean human
learning. Teaching should be carried out alongside the comprehensive
development of the human being regardless of his/her biological age. The distinction
between a child's learning and an adult's learning is not relevant because, as
Postman states, the differences between adults and children are disappeari ng. Therefore, the child learner should be
treated like an adult learner.
Felix Adam first defined the
term Anthropogogy in 1977 as: "The science and the art of permanently teaching
and educating a person throughout any period of his/her psycho-biological development
and in the functioning of his/her natural, ergo logical and social life."
In 1981, K.D Benne described
the term as: "The guideline of learning and education of people of all
ages, as the basis for human survival, highlighting the importance of controlling
the processes of critical thinking and innovation, ability to listen and
communicate with others whose views are contradictory. Provide the ability to
learn how to learn again."
Nir Golan offers a new
definition of Anthropogogy as: "Leading a person (regardless of age) throughout
significant learning towards behavioral change that can be implemented
immediately." (Golan, 2014) In today's reality, culture is changing
rapidly, so education has to be a lifelong process: where the teacher helps the
learner discover the unknown without repeating information about the known.
According to Golan, Anthropogogy
has five basic principles:
1.
The independent
learner: the perception of oneself as an independent entity. A person
sees him/herself as someone who is self-directed; choosing what to learn, how
much and how to learn it. The role of the teacher is not to give ready answers
to predetermined questions, but to help the learner find out for him/herself what
the important questions are and how to answer them. Through these questions, the
dependence – independence conflict will decrease and there will be fewer
objections to learning.
2.
Adapting learning to that
person's needs: the person is ready to learn when he/she
needs that specific learning process, and it is incorporated into daily tasks and
social functioning. He/she sees that the learning process serves his/her
personal development.
Since every person has their
own characteristics and needs, therefore, the most effective way of learning is
to adapt learning to the needs and characteristics of that individual person
with reference to their emotional and mental components, and not only to
cognitive and behavioral aspects.
3.
Renovating learning: In
the digital age where there is widespread availability of network information,
learning should give news and added value to the learner.
People approach learning in
possession of their life experiences. For learning to be more significant, the
learner needs to connect the current learning knowledge with his/her prior
knowledge. As such, educators have to find out the prior knowledge of the
person and his/her previous experiences in order to connect it to the learning
experience and not teach him/her things they already know. Thus the person who
teaches should renovate learning.
4.
Immediate and
practical learning: The main motive for human learning is for problem
solving. The learner has a need for the immediate application of the learned material,
so learning has to be more focused in giving solutions to the particular problem.
Learning which cannot be implemented
immediately is perceived as a waste of time.
5.
Learning in Community:
The basic need of person today is belonging to
"something bigger than me". Learning in community fulfills this
need. Learning community convenes regularly and frequently during the workday
to engage in collaborative professional learning to strengthen practices and
increase results. Learning community members are accountable to one another to
achieve the shared goals of the organization and work in transparent, authentic
settings that support their improvement.
The Anthropogogy model
assumes that the distinction between children and adults is no longer relevant
in the digital age and that each student should be treated as a 'whole' person
irrespective of their age.
