Mixing up the ages
I find that I have all different ages of students. Some are right out of high school and some middle age. I find that on certain subjects, it works well putting them together so they can compliment each other.
Paul, every classroom can be a bit different. Knowing your students and getting them involved in discussions concerning generational gaps can be very powerful. Both young and mature students can make great contributions to the overall class discussion.
James Jackson
I love mixing older and younger students together and find that this workes very well in most cases. The older bring a sence of life skills and the younger bring excitement to the learning process...Paul T. Rougemont
Evelyn, would enjoy hearing some of the excerpts of these stories. Thanks for anything you can share.
James Jackson
I just spoke to my students about different age groups ...how the conversations can become interesting with the elderly...many fasinating stories in their lives...
Mixing the ages in a classroom has its advantage and disadvantage. In one situation the older student(68yrs)felt intimidated by the younger students. But this experience motivated her to work harder and she became an inspiration for the rest of the class.
I certainly agree with this. I experience this all the time, where much experienced employees are teamed with new, possibly much younger, to capitalize on the combination of many years of experience and the skills that the new employee brings to the team.
I do agree that there are situation that the mixture of the ages can be beneficial to the learning outcomes. For example, if the adult learner is taking a particular course to upgrade their technology skills, where recent high school graduates are also taking the course as a requirement. In this case, the adult learner's experience coupled with the technology savy high school graduate (in a relative term) creates an environment conducive to an elloborative (experience + new age technology skills) learning approach.
I also have several age groups in my classes. Every three days or so I "stir the pot" basically changing up the teams my students are working with. I find that it discourages cliques from forming as we'll as give students a sense of the value and talents of the various individuals
Jacqueline
I find that what you said was correct. When mixing the students together in the room in groups in age difference it makes a great difference. This way each student can learn from one another.
Jacqueline, the same situation will occur in the work place so good students learn now how to work with and communicate with different age groups.
James Jackson
