Implications of Geropsychological Research for the Instruction of Older Adults

Abstract

After summarizing the findings of laboratory experimental geropsychological research pertinent to the instruction of older adults, this review focused on delineating the explicit implications of the research for adult education. Thirty-six implications were culled from the literature and categorized under ten instructional variables. In addition, the relevance of these implications for managing the functions of instruction enumerated by Gagne was demonstrated. Additional research was advocated that (1) ascer tains the impact of organizational aids on the learning of textual material; (2) explicates age functions by systematic intervention research; (3) examines tasks/situations in which older adults per form as well as or better than young adults; and (4) tests hypo theses derived from laboratory work in real-life situations.