[Understanding Student Characteristics]
I find that when the adult learners and the 18-25 year old students are in class together it can become quite a frustating situation sometimes. The adult learner wants to be there to learn while some of the younger students do not take education as seriously. Especially the younger students who have been forced into a college situation. There is always some type of frustation bewteen the two groups. I have found that by making a seating arrangement in class and working the two groups together has really helped with the situation.Any other suggestions?
thanks for your advice. will remember it when i have a similar situation again.
hadn't thought to do that. interesting idea though.
Hi Francesca,
I have a talk with such students and ask them about their behavior and what they are thinking in relation to fitting into the course. I also ask them for input and the sharing of life experiences that the younger students will not have and that helps them to see they need to act as mature members of the class rather than trying to be one of the "club".
Gary
Hi Janet,
Good question. I hope we get some good input on it. I have used a similar method in my classes and by bring focus to the negative student in a supportive and interactive way I have been able to get them involved in the course. I think you have a very good strategy plan for working with such students.
Gary
Twice over the years I have had a particularly negative student in my classroom. I figured out a way to effectively handle the situation by embracing the student with the negative personality as the descending voice in the course. I formatted the course between the pros and cons of various situations and relied on the negative student to provide the "reality check" or con position for many of the discussions. In this way I was able to keep the negative student from adversely affecting the tone of the course, they felt included, and overall everything worked really well. Has anyone else ever tried something like this with negative students?
even worse is when the adult learner thinks that he or she needs to behave like the younger learner in order to fit in.
how can one help in this situation?
Hi Tina,
Good start to learning about students and getting them comfortable with each other. You might want to pair them up and have them interview each other for 3 minutes and then have them introduce each other and tell a couple of things they learned about each other. This is a relaxing way for students to interact while you move throughout the class observing the dynamics of your class.
Gary
On the first day of class, I have each student tell a little about themselves ( what their major is and if their past or present work is related to the subject) for example I teach medical terminology and I had a few students who have worked in a medical setting and that seem to get some of the students who have never had a medical background get closer to those who have and ask them help regarding the course (medical terminology).
Any other suggestions?
Hi Karen,
You are on the right path with your strategy of getting them to work together. I use a lot of case studies in my classes. I put the students into learning/work groups with a proper mix of all types of students. I introduce some competition to the problem solving so they forget how much different they are and start to focus on how they can get the case studies completed and beat out the other groups. It is a lot of fun for everyone and really helps the diverse groups gel together.
Gary
