ABSTRACT

The aim of this study is to examine what learning capabilities and ways of learning may be possible for women in their third age. The study addresses cognitive aspects of real-life learning of older women who are experienced learners. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 women aged between 60 and 81 who hold either a PhD or a MA. Despite reports of memory decline, the findings show that the interviewees perceive their current learning not only as not showing decline, but rather as of a better quality than the learning they had experienced in previous periods. Examples of the features used to describe the current quality of learning include: (a) improved learning strategies; (b) connecting prior conceptual knowledge to new learning processes as a way of making meaning and interpreting new knowledge; and, (c) the outcome of the learning processes is deep knowledge and understanding that may be applied for achieving practical goals. The findings show that in learning that is geared towards real-life needs and goals, the older women who participated in this study adopt active, deep learning, leading to generative knowledge. The implications of these findings for the pedagogies used in educational institutions for older adults are discussed.

摘要

本研究的目的是探讨三岁女性可能具备哪些学习能力和学习方式。该研究探讨了经验丰富的老年女性在现实生活中学习的认知方面的问题。对 19 名年龄在 60 岁至 81 岁之间、拥有博士学位或硕士学位的女性进行了半结构化访谈。尽管有记忆力下降的报道，但调查结果表明，受访者认为他们当前的学习不仅没有出现下降，而且比他们之前经历的学习质量更好。用于描述当前学习质量的特征示例包括： (a) 改进的学习策略；(b) 将先前的概念知识与新的学习过程联系起来，作为创造意义和解释新知识的一种方式；和，(c) 学习过程的结果是深入的知识和理解，可用于实现实际目标。研究结果表明，在针对现实生活需求和目标的学习中，参与这项研究的老年女性采取了积极、深入的学习，从而获得了生成性知识。讨论了这些发现对老年人教育机构中使用的教学法的影响。