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Online education is now very popular. Let’s find out how educational psychology can help you in receiving online colledge degrees. Just read all our posts in this blog and you can easely start your online education.

Educational psychology is a special field of endeavor because it strives to apply what is known about many different disciplines to the broad process of education. In the most general terms, you can expect to find topics in this area that fall into the categories of human learning and development (across the life span), motivation, measurement and statistics, and curriculum and teaching. More specifically, the educational psychologist studies such topics as aggression, the relationship between poverty and achievement in schools, lifelong learning, quantitative methods, and emerging adulthood. Online education is truly a diverse and fascinating field of study and unlike other social and behavioral sciences. Its significance for application to the real needs of both children and adults cannot be overestimated.
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The importance of all these topics is not limited to the college classroom or academic lecture circuit. Rather, the ability to understand complex issues such as vouchers, early intervention, inclusion, cultural diversity, and the role of athletics in the schools (to mention only a few examples) carries important implications for public policy decisions. The encyclopedia includes some technical topics related to educational psychology, but for the most part, it focuses on those topics that evoke the interest of the everyday reader.
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Although there are hundreds of books about different topics in education and online degrees and there are thousands of university and private researchers pursuing more information about these topics, most of the available information tends to be found in scholarly books and scholarly journal articles—usually out of the reach of the everyday person. In fact, there are few comprehensive overviews of the field of online education, and the purpose of this multivolume Encyclopedia of Educational Psychology is to share this information in a way that is, above all, informative without being overly technical or intimidating.
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Through more than 275 contributions, experts provide overviews and explanations of the major topics in the field of educational psychology.
How were these topics selected to be included in this encyclopedia? The underlying rationale for topic selection and presentation comes from the need to share subjects that are rich, diverse, and deserving of closer inspection with an educated reader who may be uninformed about educational psychology. Within these pages, the contributors and I provide the overview and the detail that we feel is necessary to become well acquainted with topics that fairly represent the entire field.
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EDITOR Neil J. Salkind
Copyright © 2008 by SAGE Publications, Inc.

Abstinence education advocates abstinence as the 100% sure way to prevent pregnancy and the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The U.S. teen pregnancy rates have been decreasing since the 1990s, but of all of the developed countries in the world, the United States still has the highest teen pregnancy rates. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that approximately 19 million new STDs occur each year, almost half of them among young people ages 15 to 24. Teens with STDs are impacted emotionally and physically, and the annual medical cost directly attributed to STDs in the United States is well over $13 billion. Communities are looking for answers on how to address the complex issues of teen pregnancy and STDs. Abstinence education is seen as one such answer.
The premise of abstinence education is that abstinence is the best choice for youth when it comes to making sexual decisions. Schools and communities can decide what type of programming to provide to their young people. The current federal initiatives are driving the abstinence-until-marriage initiatives, and anyone receiving federal funding must adhere to specific guidelines. The evaluation of these programs shows some short-term impacts on attitudes and behavioral intent,
but long-term studies on behavior are mixed. This entry provides a general overview of sexuality education, abstinence education, federal funding for abstinence programming, guidelines for selecting programs, and evaluation of abstinence programs.
Sexuality and Abstinence Education
Parents are the primary educators of their children. Some parents may not feel comfortable broaching the topics with their children, may not have the factual knowledge to share with their children, or may not know how to talk to their children in a developmen-tally appropriate manner. Who else can teach the children? The vast majority of children attend public school, and schools are a logical place to provide sexuality education. Programming may be taught by teachers, health educators, nurses, doctors, or other credentialed professionals. No matter who is teaching the children, it is important for the school to verify the accuracy of the curriculum, evaluate the credentials of the provider, and be sure the curriculum meets with school district policies.
Sexuality education guidelines are typically established at the state level and carried out at the local level. Almost every state mandates sexuality education, and some mandate abstinence education. Districts and communities may choose from a range of programs, from comprehensive sexuality education programs—which may cover birth control, a range of sexual behaviors, gender identity, life skills, and anatomy and physiology—to abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, which only discuss sexual activity within the context of marriage. School districts typically create policies delineating what type of sexuality education will be taught in what grades and what topics will be covered. Most school districts allow students, with parental permission, to opt out of sexuality education.
Sexuality education has changed from the broader ranging comprehensive sexuality education in the 1970s to the current, more narrowly focused, federally funded abstinence-only-until-marriage programs of the late 1990s and today. The change in program focus can be attributed to a concern among some parents and communities that comprehensive sexuality education was teaching students how to have sex or was sending the mixed message “Do not have sex— but if you do, be sure to use protection.” Some of the disfavor arose from not clearly delineating what could and should be taught in the schools, that is, concerns over what was developmentally appropriate and what was the purview of the parent. Some people felt absti-nence education was a means of establishing moral purity and strengthening marriage.
Abstinence education proponents support the one message of abstinence from sex and do not want students to receive the mixed message “Yes, remain abstinent—but if you are not abstinent, then remember to use birth control.” Many abstinence education programs do not discuss birth control except to describe their failure rates. Components of abstinence education programs can vary, but generally the focus is on the harm that comes from sexual intercourse and early sexual involvement. Depending on the school district, curricula components vary and may or may not include anatomy and physiology, life skills, communication skills, or refusal skills components.
The curricula are created by a variety of people, including teachers, school districts, health educators, faith-based groups, private businesses, or community members.
Abstinence-plus proponents believe abstinence is the best choice for young people when it comes to making decisions about sex. The “plus” in abstinence-plus often includes life skills components such as goal setting, life planning, communication, anatomy and physiology, and information on contraception. The plus component refers to the ability of the teacher to answer student questions, provide information about contraceptives, or possibly refer the student for information on contraceptives.
The philosophy of the current abstinence-only-until-marriage, also known as abstinence-only, programs is that sexual intercourse and sexual activity should happen only between a man and woman and only when they are married. There is no discussion of contraception except to discuss failure rates, and no programs may advocate for the use of contraceptives. Each program adheres to a set of guidelines as established by law in 1996. The next section discusses federal funding of abstinence-only programs and the program guidelines.

EDITOR Neil J. Salkind
Copyright © 2008 by SAGE Publications, Inc.

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The first federal funding of abstinence programs was created in 1981 with the Adolescent Family Life Act as Title XX of the Public Health Service Act. According to the Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs, the Adolescent Family Life (AFL) program supports demonstration projects to develop, implement, and evaluate program interventions to promote abstinence from sexual activity among adolescents and to provide comprehensive health care, education, and social services to pregnant and parenting adolescents.
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The program supports two basic types of demonstration projects: (1) prevention demonstration projects to develop, test, and use curricula that provide education and activities designed to encourage adolescents to postpone sexual activity until marriage; and (2) care demonstration projects to develop interventions with pregnant and parenting teens, their infants, male partners, and family members in an effort to ameliorate the effects of too-early-childbearing for teen parents, their babies, and their families. The AFL program also funds grants to support research on the causes and consequences of adolescent premarital sexual relations, pregnancy, and parenting. The Title XX funds not only help the teens and families they serve directly, but they also provide valuable information and evaluation findings that can serve as a basis for future strategies. Every program that receives AFL grant funds is required to include an independent evaluation component. This ensures that the lessons learned by each community will benefit others in the future.
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In 1996, federal abstinence education programs narrowed the definitions of abstinence when Section 510(b) of Title V of the Social Security Act, P.L. 104-193 was signed into law by President Bill Clinton. The abstinence-only federal funding was created as part of “welfare reform,” or the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Act (TANF). This third funding stream provides grants to states for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. The absti-nence-only-until-marriage educational or motivational programs must adhere to the following eight criteria as established by law:
1. Has as its exclusive purpose teaching the social,
psychological, and health gains to be realized by
abstaining from sexual activity
2. Teaches abstinence from sexual activity outside
marriage as the expected standard for all school-age children
3. Teaches that abstinence from sexual activity is the
only certain way to avoid out-of-wedlock pregnancy, sexually
transmitted diseases, and other associated health problems
4. Teaches that a mutually faithful monogamous relationship
in the context of marriage is the expected standard of sexual activity
5. Teaches that sexual activity outside of the context
of marriage is likely to have harmful psychological
and physical effects
6. Teaches that bearing children out-of-wedlock is
likely to have harmful consequences for the child,
the child’s parents, and society
7. Teaches young people how to reject sexual
advances and how alcohol and drug use increases
vulnerability to sexual advances
8. Teaches the importance of attaining self-sufficiency
before engaging in sexual activity
As of 1997, all abstinence projects funded under the Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention must adhere to the eight criteria. The funded projects must be evaluated, and the curricula must be medically accurate.
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Title V grantees cannot provide educational programming that goes against any one of the criteria listed previously in this section, but the states have the latitude to focus on only a few of the criteria. The states can direct the funding to schools, community-based organizations, health districts, media campaigns, or faith-based entities. Each state has the discretion to decide who receives the funding, how programs are delivered, and if and how they will be evaluated.
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In October 2000, the federal government expanded the abstinence-only projects and created Special Projects of Regional and National Significance-Community-Based Abstinence Education (SPRANS-CBAE). The SPRANS grants are awarded to states and community organizations and can fund only abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. In 2005 oversight of the SPRANS-CBAE grants was moved from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau to the Adminis-tration for Children and Families (ACF); both are within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This program is now known as Community-Based Abstinence Education (CBAE). The program requirements have been tightened; to receive funding, each program now must adhere to all eight criteria. Process evaluation is now required for new grantees, but programs do not have to measure impact on program participants. So how does one select an abstinence program?
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Selecting and Evaluating Programs
Abstinence education programs are evolving, and the types of programs offered are vast in terms of quality, cost, and effectiveness. When choosing a program, educators can look for teacher training, medical accuracy, evidence of effectiveness with similar populations, costs, whether the program is theoretically based, and how it fits with community guidelines. Other considerations include whether the program is taught by a teacher or peers and how much time can be devoted to the program. Programs can range from a single 1-hour presentation to 25 sessions over 5 weeks. The curricula and desired learning outcomes should coincide. A final component is the effectiveness of the program; currently, long-term research on the effectiveness of abstinence education is limited to a few programs, and the results are mixed.
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Few rigorous, long-term studies focusing on behavioral outcomes have been conducted on specific abstinence-only programs. The Office of Adolescent Pregnancy Programs (OAPP) does require all of its abstinence programs to be evaluated, and most of the published abstinence evaluations are former OAPP projects. Most of the programs have shown immediate differences in attitudes and intent to remain abstinent. One problem with the evaluations of many abstinence programs is the limited ability to assign students to experimental or control groups, the presence of follow-up evaluations, and the limited sample sizes.

Research is needed to determine the long-term impacts on behavior.
Caile E. Spear

EDITOR Neil J. Salkind
Copyright © 2008 by SAGE Publications, Inc.

The classical understanding of the term acceleration is progress through an educational program at a rate faster, or at an age younger, than conventional. This is now referred to, more appropriately, as academic acceleration and is based on the premise that each child has a right to realize his or her potential.
Academic acceleration is valid pedagogy, is grounded in and supported by research, and is an appropriate response to the educational and social needs of a student whose cognitive ability and academic achievement are several years beyond those of their age-peers. Yet worldwide it is an educational option little used. Even though the research on acceleration is so uniformly and distinctly positive and the benefits of well-administered acceleration are so unequivocal, educators are reluctant to accelerate children, and some educational systems proscribe its transparent use.
This entry presents an outline of current theory of academic acceleration through a discussion of a curriculum for gifted students, the benefits of acceleration, a model for acceleration, guidelines for implementing an acceleration program, and ongoing issues related to the practice of acceleration.
Curriculum for Gifted Students
The literature is adamant: Gifted students are exceptional students who have three basic educational needs. They require the provision of a curriculum that is substantially and qualitatively differentiated; that is prescribed, planned, articulated, permanent, ongoing, and defensible; that is based on students’ exceptionality; and that is predicated on the needs of each student. Gifted students require accelerated, enriched, and challenging learning experiences, with carefully planned, relevant enrichment and with content acceleration to the level of each student’s ability. They also require counseling and guidance to foster cognitive and affective growth. Whereas most teachers and researchers involved with the education of gifted students agree that gifted students do require a differentiated curriculum, there is passionate debate concerning the form that this provision should take.
Counseling certainly is important for the social and emotional development of the gifted student and should be part of the framework for any program devised for gifted students.
Academic enrichment is worthwhile for most students and should not be offered to gifted students only. Relevant academic enrichment requires the provision of a program specifically designed for the individual. For gifted students, this will naturally entail advanced material and higher-level treatment of topics within their area of special aptitude, and the more relevant and excellent the enrichment is, the more it calls for acceleration of subject matter or grade placement later. Indeed, acceleration may well be the most appropriate form of enrichment.
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The notion of academic acceleration is evidently contentious, with an enormous hiatus existing between what research has revealed and what most practitioners believe and do. The literature uniformly emphasizes that academic acceleration should form an integral component of a school’s program for gifted students, complementing enrichment programs and provisions and following relevant enrichment. Resistance to academic acceleration, especially through concerns for the social and emotional development of the accelerated student, is not grounded in research. Clearly, educators need to be aware of the empirical research on the positive effects of academic acceleration. Moreover, the literature carefully points out that academic acceleration appears to be the best and most feasible method for providing a challenging, rewarding, and ongoing education that matches a gifted student’s academic and intellectual ability and comes closest to meeting his or her educational, social, and emotional needs.
Whatever the status of the debate, if service delivery is predicated on a gifted student’s precocious development and educational needs, then a differentiated curriculum should be challenging and educationally relevant and should be adapted by acceleration, enrichment, sophistication, and novelty. Such an eclectic approach to programming for the gifted will be employed within an integrative framework, adaptable to the cognitive and affective needs of the individual.
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The issue may be placed in perspective by cor-rectly noticing that a gifted student is already accelerated and that what is accelerated through academic acceleration is simply the student’s progress through the formal school curriculum. The key point is that matching the curriculum to the student’s abilities is not acceleration per se, but rather it is a developmentally appropriate teaching practice.

EDITOR Neil J. Salkind
Copyright © 2008 by SAGE Publications, Inc.

Types of Academic Acceleration
Grade skipping is but one example of academic acceleration. In practice, the range and types of academic acceleration also include early entrance to school, continuous progression, self-paced instruction, correspondence courses, combined classes, multiage classes, curriculum compacting, curriculum telescoping, extracurricular programs, mentorships, content acceleration, subject acceleration, credit by examination, concurrent enrollment, advanced placement (an American practice with few equivalents elsewhere), early access to advanced-level studies while still at school, and early entrance to university.
Academic acceleration, therefore, refers to any of the ways by which a gifted student engages in the study of new material that is typically taught at a higher grade level than the one in which the child is currently enrolled, covers more material in a shorter time, and accordingly is seen to be vertical provision for gifted students. Implicit is the assumption that gifted students, who perform, or reflect the potential to perform, at advanced skill levels should be studying new material at levels commensurate with their levels of ability. Because a common characteristic of gifted students is their ability to learn at a fast rate, acceleration is seen to be a fundamental need of a gifted student and, in some form, should be an integral part of every gifted program.
A model for academic acceleration may refer to service delivery, whereby a standard curriculum experience is offered to a gifted student at a younger age or earlier grade than usual. Or it may refer to curriculum delivery, which involves increasing the pace of presentation of material, either in the regular classroom or in special classes. In either case, programs for academic acceleration allow the examination of content in greater depth, give access to subject matter at levels of greater conceptual difficulty, and should provide instruction that individually and explicitly matches the achievement levels, ability, interests, and learning style of the gifted student.
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Benefits of Acceleration
Academic acceleration has several administrative benefits. It is a readily available and inexpensive educational option. It is a way of giving recognition for a student’s advanced abilities and accomplishments. It increases learning efficiency, learning effectiveness, and productivity; it gives a student more choice for academic exploration; and it may give increased time for a career.
The report A Nation Deceived presents an excellent summary of recent research supporting the academic and affective benefits of well-administered acceleration. From this research come four important findings that are strong and clear and unequivocal.
First, acceleration is consistently and highly effective for academic achievement. No studies have shown that enrichment programs or provisions give more benefits to gifted students than methods of acceleration. Academic benefits do arise from ability grouping accompanied by a differentiated curriculum, but the greatest benefit comes from academic acceleration. That is, accelerated gifted students, regardless of which form of acceleration is used, significantly outperform students of similar intellectual ability who have not been accelerated.
Second, there is no research to support the claim of maladjustment from acceleration. Despite the preponderance of evidence in favor of academic acceleration, concern about the social and emotional adjustment of accelerated students persists. This concern is cited by both teachers and administrators as the primary reason for opposition to academic acceleration. However, research finds no evidence to support the notion that social and emotional problems arise through well-run and carefully monitored acceleration programs.
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Third, acceleration is usually effective in terms of affective adjustment. For many students, it removes them from difficult social situations and from unchal-lenging and inappropriate educational contexts. It exposes the student to a new peer group and, in fact, significantly increases the chances of a gifted student forming close and productive social relationships with other students. That is, academic acceleration goes a long way to meeting the social and emotional needs of the gifted student who uses it.
Fourth, a gifted student who is not accelerated when it is appropriate may well experience educational frustration and boredom; have reduced motivation to learn; develop poor study habits; have lower academic expectations, achievement, and productivity; express apathy toward formal schooling; drop out prematurely (there is at least some anecdotal evidence to support this); and/or find it difficult to adjust to peers who do not share advanced interests and concerns. That is, rather than expressing concern over potential socioemotional maladjustment arising from acceleration, teachers and administrators need to be concerned about the probability of maladjustment effects resulting from inadequate intellectual challenge.

EDITOR Neil J. Salkind
Copyright © 2008 by SAGE Publications, Inc.

A Model for Academic Acceleration
It is important to see academic acceleration not as a single intervention but rather as an ongoing, holistic, whole-school process necessarily involving the student, the student’s caregivers, and his or her teachers.
Accordingly, Peter Merrotsy has developed an acceleration model that recommends six steps toward a better curriculum for gifted students: identification, communication, a negotiated curriculum, academic acceleration, access to advanced courses while still at school, and support.
Identification
Identification of a gifted student should imply that educational action will take place. It needs to be remembered that identification is notoriously unreliable, especially for gifted students from a background of disadvantage (e.g., low socioeconomic status or forced cultural minority status). That is one of the reasons why it is important to have a broad, inclusive curriculum and to have students involved in making decisions about getting online degree.
Communication
Each gifted student has a right to know the curriculum options and pathways to earn online bachelor degree available to him or her. Information about enrichment programs, extracurricular activities, meeting outcomes in alternative ways, high-level courses, senior courses, academic acceleration, and access to advanced-level courses online degree while still at school should be clearly communicated to gifted students, and indeed to all students and their caregivers.
A Negotiated Curriculum
Gifted students are in a position to make informed decisions about their education. They should be actively involved in decision-making processes concerning their curriculum. Gifted students should be empowered to negotiate their curriculum.
Academic Acceleration
Academic acceleration appears to be the best and most feasible method for providing a challenging, rewarding, and continuous education which matches a gifted student’s academic ability and comes closest to meeting his or her educational—intellectual, social, and emotional—needs. In order to earn online bachelor degree it may be necessary to change the organization of the school’s curriculum and, in some cases, to change systemic policy.
Advanced-Level Courses
Access to advanced-level courses while still at school is an appropriate and natural progression for a gifted student who has academically accelerated. It is important to remember that an accelerated student could choose instead to study a greater number of secondary subjects, complete fewer secondary subjects but in greater depth, or take a year off, perhaps as an exchange student in another country. Whichever option is pursued, careful long-term planning, clear communication, and a negotiated curriculum are needed.
Support for Gifted Students
To help their intellectual, social, and emotional development, academically accelerated students need appropriate support, in terms of policy, administration, coordination of courses, enriched educational experiences, access to high-level courses, access to specialist teachers, tutors, counselors and mentors, and resources. In particular, gifted students from dis-advantaged backgrounds, and from rural and isolated settings, need financial support so that they have access to resources and to educational experiences and opportunities enjoyed by others.
Guidelines for online bachelor degree
The Iowa Acceleration Scale offers a thoughtful and careful objective guide for whole-grade, academically accelerated progression and is supported by research and many repetition studies. There are four critical items: If a student’s measured IQ is below 120, if a sibling is either in the same grade from which the student will accelerate or in the new grade to which the student will accelerate, or there is any antipathy by the student, then whole-grade acceleration is not recommended. School history; an assessment of ability, aptitude, and achievement; academic and developmental factors; interpersonal skills; and attitude and support by the school and family are then taken into account in order to give, or not give, as the case may be, a recommendation for whole-grade acceleration. If whole-grade acceleration is not recommended, then advice is available on the suitability of other forms of acceleration or on enrichment and extension online degree programs.

Ongoing Issues
Two key issues need to be addressed worldwide if gifted students are to gain adequate access to a curriculum that includes options for online bachelor degree. These issues need to be addressed to overcome the impact of social and cultural disadvantage and to give equity of access to appropriate educational programs for gifted students.
First, the findings of research concerning the academic and affective benefits of well-administered acceleration online bachelor degree programs need to be accepted by educational administrators, communities, and teachers. System-organizational patterns of social grouping and the lockstep method of promotion constitute an effective barrier to the development of giftedness, suggesting the deep and urgent need for more flexible forms of school organization that ensure continuity of experience based on criteria other than age or years of attendance and that permit student progression based on individual development and performance.
Second, the end result or consequence of acceleration must be appropriately supported and managed by the education system. For example, with respect to advanced-level subjects studied while still at school, clarification is needed concerning equity of access, which can only be maintained through flexible forms of delivery and alternative modes of study; recognition that they constitute a formal component of secondary school studies, with continuity and articulation of curriculum; the status of secondary students who have completed advanced level units of studies, inter alia that they are still eligible for university entrance scholarships; and credit transfer.
Peter Merrotsy

EDITOR Neil J. Salkind
Copyright © 2008 by SAGE Publications, Inc.

Acculturation is a complex process that includes those phenomena that result when groups of individuals having different cultures come into continuous firsthand contact, with subsequent changes in the original cultural patterns of either or both groups. The study of acculturation was originally of interest to the fields of anthropology and sociology, focusing on changes occurring at a group level. However, acculturation incorporates changes at the social, group, and individual levels. Later, other fields such as psychology examined acculturation at an individual level. The concept of individual acculturation is also referred to as psychological acculturation, which is explained as a change in attitudes, behaviors, beliefs, and values. In relation to acculturation, scholars have identified six areas of functioning that are directly affected by acculturation: language, cognitive styles, personality, identity, attitudes, and acculturative stress. Although acculturation is usually linked to cross-cultural relocations, as with immigrants and refugees, it may take place in numerous sociocultural contexts among a variety of groups. Acculturation is not restricted to those who embark on geographical movement; it can occur in stationary communities, such as in the case of indigenous or native people and ethnic groups in pluralistic societies.
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Dimension of Acculturation
Whereas many scholars and research studies have focused on acculturation at a behavioral dimension, it is important to recognize that acculturation can affect other areas as well. Spoken language preference, television program preference, and participation in cultural activities are all ways in which acculturation can be experienced at a behavioral level. Additionally, online education can be experienced at a cognitive level, which may influence values and knowledge. The influence that acculturation has on the values may influence attitudes and beliefs about social relations, cultural customs and traditions, gender roles, online degree and attitudes and ideas about health. Knowledge may be influenced by acculturation in the manner in which we recognize or know about culture-specific information, such as names of historical figures belonging to the culture of origin and the dominant culture and the historical significance of culture-specific activities. Lastly, cultural identity has been proposed as a dimension of acculturation. Cultural identity refers to the attitudes an individual has about his or her culture, such as feelings of comfort, pride, or shame toward the culture of origin or the host culture.
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Theoretical and Conceptual Frameworks
Medicine and psychiatry had a major influence in the study of online degree, and early theories of acculturation assumed a clinical viewpoint on matters corresponding to culture contact and change. Much of the early work on online degree focused on anxiety occurring during cross-cultural transition.
Assimilation
The assimilation model of acculturation characterizes individuals that are highly acculturated; assimilated individuals strongly identify with the dominant or host culture, resulting in the loss of the original cultural identity. The assimilation model of online degree has come to be known as cultural shift. Assimilated individuals that no longer identify with their culture of origin may behave in a manner that no longer reflects the behaviors of the original culture. For example, assimilated individuals may no longer speak the native language, listen to native music, take part in native dances, or follow the native culture’s dating process. Along with behavioral changes, assimilated individuals shift their beliefs, values, and attitudes to match those of the dominant or host culture.
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Separation
In the separation model of acculturation, also referred to as cultural resistance, an individual will maintain a strong identification with the culture of origin and does not accept the behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, or values of the dominant or host culture. Although an individual may be presented with opportunities to acculturate, the individual consciously chooses to maintain an allegiance with the culture of origin. In this model the individual only displays the behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, and values of the culture of origin.
integration
The integration model of acculturation, also referred to as cultural incorporation and bicultural-ism, is exactly what the term implies. The integration model is a merge and combination of two cultures: the culture of origin and the new dominant or host culture. Individuals in this model may successfully display behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, and values from both cultures. Individuals in this model identify with both cultures and have a level of comfort within both cultures.
Marginalization
The fourth model of acculturation is marginalization; the marginalization model is described as a rejection or nonacceptance of the behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, and values of both the culture of origin and the new dominant or host culture. It is important to keep in mind that a marginalized individual can maintain cultural competence with both groups and have marginal traits as well. Additionally, a degree of acculturation or identification with both cultures must occur before marginalization takes place.
Acculturative Stress
One potential outcome or response of acculturation is acculturative stress, which may result from differences in language, perceived cultural incompatibilities, and cultural self-consciousness. Some stress behaviors that have been associated with acculturation are anxiety, depression, feelings of alienation, and identity confusion.
It is important to note that some research has shown that acculturative stress is not related to the level of acculturation. Thus, one cannot assume that less acculturated individuals experience more acculturative stress than more acculturated individuals. Scholars have also suggested that acculturative stress can stem from the demands to maintain or learn one’s cultural heritage while at the same time feeling pressured by the dominant culture to assimilate.

Miguel Angel Cano
EDITOR Neil J. Salkind
Copyright © 2008 by SAGE Publications, Inc.

ADULT LEARNING
Adult learning is a complex phenomenon. Although there are many commonalities between how adults and children learn, development and change that take place across the life span play a definite role in understanding why adults learn, as well as how they learn. In educational psychology, an understanding of adult learning and the adult learner is crucial to a commitment to lifelong learning. Major challenges facing those who work with and study adult learners include questions about the extent to which knowledge is discovered or constructed and where one locates oneself in terms of focusing on individual and social aspects of online education.
History
In the early 1900s, the psychology of adulthood and aging received scant attention, largely due to the strong influence of psychologists such as John Watson, Sigmund Freud, and Jean Piaget, whose work emphasized the view that adulthood could be understood as simply an extension of development or learning in the early years of life. However, as psychologists such as Erik Erikson, G. Stanley Hall, Charlotte Biihler, and Sidney Pressey began to extend their theories and research to address the adult years, a greater understanding of the psychology of adulthood began to emerge.
Probably the first major study of adult learning was published by E. L. Thorndike and his colleagues in the 1928 book Adult Learning. As a seminal effort to provide empirical evidence related to learning in adulthood, these authors concluded that learning ability peaks at about age 45, rather than age 20 as previously believed. This study set in motion an effort to understand adult learning ability; this effort has continued to grow over nearly eight decades. Today, most of the research and writing on adult learning come from three fields: psychology, adult education, and gerontology. The field of psychology has offered a necessary, though not sufficient, foundation for understanding adult learning. Adult education and gerontology, through their professional literature, have also made important contributions to learning in adulthood. Although there is some overlap across these areas, each field brings a different framework and importance to the understanding of earning online degree.
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Participation in Adult Learning
One of the most extensively studied areas of online education relates to the nature of participation in adult learning. This involves three questions: Who participates in online education? Why do adults engage in learning? What are some of the factors that deter or limit adults from participating in learning? Online course and college degree. In 1965, William Johnstone and Ramon Rivera reported on a major national study of adult learning participation and found that 22% of all adults in the United States participated in some form of learning activity during the previous year.
Beginning in 1969, the U.S. National Center for Education Statistics began to collect data about participation in adult education. These studies have been conducted every several years and have offered insight into some major trends. Unfortunately, because different data collection procedures and definitions were used at different times, direct comparison across studies is not feasible. Nonetheless, it is possible to identify certain trends in participation. Earn college degree online.
Data from 2000-2001 indicate that 46% of all adults participated in some form of adult education activity during the previous 12 months. This compares with participation rates of 40.2% in 1995 and 33% in 1991. In terms of demographic breakdown, those in the 41-to-50 age group had the highest participation rate (55%), followed by the 16-to-30 and 31-to-40 age groups (53% each). Female participants outnumbered males (49%-43%), and in terms of race/ethnicity, Whites had the highest participation rate (47%), followed rather closely by African Americans (43%) and Hispanics (42%). As might be expected, those with higher educational attainment and income levels also had the highest participation rates. Finally, people who were employed during the previous 12 months had over twice as high a participation rate as those unemployed during the same period (54% compared with 25%).
The way in which participation is defined has an impact on the actual rates of participation. In the data cited in the previous paragraph, participation was defined as some form of online education bachelor degree online class. However, in the early 1970s, Allen Tough used a structured interview process to assess involvement of adults across the entire range of learning activities. In doing so, Tough found that as many as 90% of the participants in his study engaged in some form of learning activity over the previous year. Even more important is that he found the vast majority of learning projects (68%) were planned by the learners themselves, as opposed to a teacher/instructor, tutor, or nonhuman resource such as technology. Tough used the metaphor of an iceberg to illustrate what he found: Most adult learning lies beneath the surface and is not easily visible to those who only study participation in organized courses or other activities. This finding played a key role in stimulating research on self-directed learning, which became one of the most widely studied topics in the adult education literature of the last decades of the 20th century.
To a large degree, participation in adult learning is linked to life transitions. These transitions often serve as “triggers” for adults to recognize that learning can help them negotiate such transitions. In today’s world, job-related transitions (e.g., job loss, promotion, new responsibilities, retirement) are the most frequently identified reasons for participation. Other examples of transitions that can trigger the need for learning include family issues like marriage, divorce, and parenthood; health issues such as wellness, coping with a life-threatening illness, or being diagnosed with a chronic condition; enrichment opportunities such as leisure, art, or religion/spirituality.
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One particularly influential study is Cyril Houle’s The Inquiring Mind, which was originally published in 1961. Houle interviewed 22 adults deemed to be active learners and from these interviews, he identified a typology of orientations toward learning. Goal-oriented learners viewed learning as instrumental to achieving some other purpose; in other words, learning was seen as a means to another end. Activity-oriented learners sought out learning activities for their social value, as a way to meet new people and socialize. Learning-oriented adults were identified as those who engaged in learning for its own sake.
Many factors can serve as barriers or deterrents to participation in getting degree online. These have been conceptualized according to several different categories. In essence, the major factors that limit participation are (a) reasons linked to the life circumstances of adults, which are often outside the control of the person, such as lack of time, money, transportation, and family responsibilities; (b) reasons related to institutional policies and practices that limit participation, such as scheduling of classes, information about offerings, limited offerings, and policies that discriminate directly or indirectly against adult learners; and (c) reasons related to attitudes and values of learners, such as low self-concept, fear of failure, negative past experiences, and lack of interest. In the 1980s and early 1990s, Gordon Darkenwald and his colleagues, Craig Scanlon, Thomas Valentine, and Elisabeth Hayes, reported on the development of several forms of the Deterrents to Participation Scale. This instrument has made it possible to isolate and identify many of the factors that contribute to nonparticipation in adult learning.

EDITOR Neil J. Salkind
Copyright © 2008 by SAGE Publications, Inc.

Intelligence, Memory, and Cognition
Central to the study of adult learning, especially in the realm of psychology and gerontology, has been the body of scholarship on the related areas of intelligence, memory, and cognition. Paul Baltes has described the aging mind as having both potentials and limits, resulting in age-related gains and losses. Whereas some areas of functioning show decline, other areas remain stable and, in some cases, show improvement with age.
To understand changes in intelligence, memory, and cognition over the adult life span, it is important to recognize that much of what has been reported is influenced by the types of research design that have been utilized. Cross-sectional studies measure different age cohorts at a single point in time. These studies make it possible to look at age differences on the vari-able(s) being studied; however, they do not accurately describe age changes. Longitudinal studies, on the other hand, measure the same cohort over time, making it possible to study changes that take place over time, but not cohort differences. Most of the early studies on intellectual functioning relied on a cross-sectional approach, and in such cases, researchers often incorrectly identified age-related declines when, actually, what they were observing were cohort differences. As is easy to picture, longitudinal research is difficult to carry out because it requires researchers who can envision and remain committed to a study over many years and even decades. Other problems with longitudinal studies are attrition of participants and instrument decay resulting from changes in the social context that can make earlier instruments irrelevant over time.
One way to minimize the limits of cross-sectional and longitudinal designs is to use an approach that combines both approaches in a single study. Here, longitudinal data are collected over time with a single cohort. During each measurement, however, a new cohort of younger participants is added. Eventually, this design will generate enough data to address age changes over time as well as cohort differences. Perhaps the most influential study of this type is the Seattle Longitudinal Study, developed by K. Warner Schaie. Begun in 1956, with additional cohorts added every 7 years, the Seattle Longitudinal Study has focused on five mental abilities:
(1) verbal meaning, which refers to the ability to understand ideas as expressed in words;
(2) spatial orientation, the ability to visualize, manipulate, and perceive connections among objects;
(3) inductive reasoning, the ability to recognize or make sense of new concepts and the ability to analyze and solve problems and situations;
(4) numeric ability, which refers to understanding
numbers and figures and the speed and accuracy with
which a person can solve numerical problems; and
(5) word fluency, involving ability to recall words in
writing and speech. Basically, this study has presented
evidence that in normal aging, there is little or no dis-
cernable decline in primary mental abilities until the
mid-to-late 60s and this decline is slow until the 80s.
An area of debate related to intelligence in adulthood centers on whether intelligence is a general factor, as is typically defined in IQ tests, or whether there are different kinds of intelligence that account for a wide range of abilities. The view that there is more than one type of intelligence was introduced by Raymond Cattell and John Horn, who distinguished between fluid and crystallized intelligence. Fluid intelligence is a biologically based form of intelligence that is innate and involves reasoning ability. Crystallized intelligence, on the other hand, is largely depen-dent on education and experience. Thus, in this view, there is evidence that whereas fluid intelligence is characterized by age-related decline, crystallized intelligence, by building on past experience, typically increases over the life span.
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In recent years, two theories have proposed that intelligence comprises multiple factors. Robert Stern-berg has proposed a triarchic theory of successful intelligence, which holds that intelligence comprises a mix of analytical, creative, and practical abilities. The first of these is the more traditional view of academic intelli-gence. Creative intelligence centers on how well one addresses new and unfamiliar situations. Practical intelligence has to do with how effectively one is able to adapt to and solve everyday problems. A second approach to the multifactor view of intelligence is Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences. According to Gardner, there are eight intelligences that address a wide range of abilities. These intelligences include linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, and two forms of personal intelligences that involve understanding oneself and others.
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The eighth intelligence, naturalistic, has been added recently and is based on an understanding of the natural environment. The theories proposed by Sternberg and Gardner have relevance to adult learning because they recognize and value types of intelligence that extend beyond the more traditional IQ-based approach to intelligence. Because adult learning typically has a practical bent, emphasizing different kinds of abilities, the notion of multiple intelligence holds much potential for future research and practice with adult learners.
Memory is closely linked to intelligence. It involves the acquisition, retention, and recall of information. Although there are many schema for distinguishing among different kinds of memory, the distinction between short-term and long-term memory serves well to illustrate how information is retained and recalled in adulthood. Short-term memory, which typically covers a period of 10 to 30 seconds, can be further broken down into primary memory and working memory. Primary memory is more passive and involves holding information for immediate recall (e.g., remembering a phone number long enough to go to the phone and dial it or remembering information on a road sign when driving long enough to follow the desired direction). Working memory is more active and centers on the amount of information that can be held in memory long enough to perform some other operation on it. Research evidence suggests that whereas the changes in primary memory are small and gradual over time, there is a major decline in working memory with age. This decline has been attributed to a host of factors, including (a) a decline in mental energy that can result in overloading with increasingly complex tasks, (b) a weakened ability to use strategies related to working memory, and (c) a decline in speed of memory processing.
Long-term memory involves how facts are stored (semantic memory) and the ability to recall events from the past (episodic memory). Semantic memory is typically stable into the 70s and then declines gradually. On the other hand, episodic memory tends to decline with age although it is possible to compensate for some of this loss. Declines in long-term memory have variously been attributed to how material is acquired, how it is retrieved, and how fast it can be processed. At the same time, some researchers have suggested that memory training activities can help adults retain the ability to use knowledge, strategies, and skills.
Cognition involves all forms of knowing and awareness, including, but not limited to, information processing, problem solving, perceiving, abstract reasoning, and judging. Much of the work on cognition in adult learning acknowledges the work of Jean Piaget as a starting point; however, because Piaget focused primarily on early development, subsequent work on cognitive development in adulthood has attempted to move beyond Piaget’s original ideas. One model of cognitive development that is often adapted to the adult learning context is William Perry’s intellectual development scheme. Based on data from male Ivy League college students, Perry found that as learners develop, they move from dual-istic thinking, where “right and wrong” answers are presented by authorities, to relativistic thinking, where understanding the context is as important as the knowledge itself. An important response to Perry’s scheme is the work of Mary Belenky, Blythe Clinchy, Nancy Goldberger, and Jill Tarule, who looked at “women’s ways of knowing.” They identified five categories of knowing, ranging from “silence,” where women lack voice and are subject to what is expected from authority figures, to “constructed knowledge,” where women perceive themselves able to create knowledge and to recognize all knowledge as contextual. This important study offered evidence of ways in which the experiences of women can differ from those of men.
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A question that lies at the heart of cognition centers on whether knowledge is discovered or constructed. Whereas many views of cognition emphasize knowing as an internal process of uncovering knowledge that goes on within the individual learner, the literature on adult learning has increasingly focused on the social context in which learning takes place. This approach to understanding knowledge is often referred to as situated cognition. In situated cognition, knowledge cannot be separated from the context in which learning takes place. Thus, learning involves the construction of knowledge within the social milieu in which it occurs. Because it emphasizes learning in social context, situated cognition is characterized as having an inherently social or political element to knowledge and a connection to the importance of power in relation to cognition.

EDITOR Neil J. Salkind
Copyright © 2008 by SAGE Publications, Inc.

There is no single theory or model that explains adult learning. This should come as no surprise, as adults engage in learning for myriad reasons and in virtually unlimited settings. Adults become involved in learning for such wide-ranging purposes as work/career-related learning and training, literacy and basic skills development, earning credentials or degrees, social change or online education and e-learning, and personal growth, enrichment, and enjoyment. Adult learning takes place in such diverse settings as colleges and universities, public schools, business and workplace settings, health and human services agencies, churches, civic organizations, and government agencies, including the military. Although there is no single theory or model that can fully explain online education, there are nonetheless several theories or concepts that illustrate the scope of what is known about e-learning online degree. Five of these are described in the following sections.
Andragogy
Andragogy is a concept that can be traced back to the 19th century. However, it came into prominence in adult learning during the late 1960s and early 1970s through the work of Malcolm Knowles. Knowles was looking for a framework to distinguish adult learning from learning in childhood (pedagogy). Later, Knowles suggested that pedagogy and andragogy are not limited to children and adults, respectively, but are more matched to the maturity and experience of the learner in a given setting. Though andragogy is sometimes described as a theory, it is probably more accurate to describe it as a set of assumptions about how people learn online degree. According to andragogy, as learners mature,
1. their self-concept moves from being dependent to
increasing levels of self-directedness;
2. the role of the learners’ experience becomes an
increasingly valuable resource, and adult learning
is optimized when learners are able to tap into their
experience;
3. readiness to learn in adulthood is increasingly based
on real-life needs and situations;
4. there is a shift from learning for future application
toward learning to address immediate needs;
5. intrinsic motivators become increasingly more
important than extrinsic ones; and
6. before learning something, adults typically need to
know why they need to learn it.
Although some critics have challenged andragogy because its focus is largely on the individual learner and does not directly address the social context in which learning takes place, andragogy retains an important place as a set of practices that have value when working with adult learners.
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Self-Directed Learning
Closely related to the first assumption of andra-gogy, self-directed learning emerged in the early 1970s as one of the most systematic areas of research and scholarship on adult learning. Much of this interest grew out of the research of Allen Tough, which was mentioned earlier in this entry, on adults’ learning projects. Subsequently, two individuals who have played a key role in developing this work, both through their own writings and through their many doctoral graduates, are Roger Hiemstra and Huey Long. They earned online degrees. Though there are many definitions, models, and conceptualizations of self-directed learning, it is essentially where the learners assume primary responsibility for and control over their learning. In 1991, Ralph Brockett and Roger Hiemstra synthesized ideas from several previous authors to present a model that describes self-direction as the product of two factors: the teaching-learning situation and internal characteristics of the learner. Out of this body of research, several ideas have emerged: first, self-directed learning is the most frequent way in which adults choose to learn; second, self-directedness has a strong connection to how learners feel about themselves as learners; third, several personality and social characteristics seem to have a connection to self-directedness; and finally, research on self-directed learning has probably contributed to a more holistic understanding of adult learners’ potential.
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Transformative Learning
Experience lies at the heart of adult learning. In most approaches to learning in adulthood, experience is acknowledged to be an important resource for the learner. However, it is not merely having an experience that matters; rather, it is the way in which the learner makes meaning of the experience and is changed by the experience that is important. In the 1970s, Jack Mezirow reported on a study of women who had returned to college. He described a process similar to consciousness-raising that took place for many of the women. Instead of simply acquiring knowledge, the experience of returning to college often resulted in a transformation that transcended the college experience and led to a redefining of the self. Initially, Mezirow referred to this process as perspective transformation and laid the foundation for a theory that has evolved over the ensuing three decades. Mezirow cited several key influences including Jiirgen Habermas (critical theory), Roger Gould (psychoanalytic psychology), Paulo Freire (conscientization), and Thomas Kuhn (paradigm shifts). Through exchanges with various scholars who challenged aspects of Mezirow’s theory, particularly those related to the emphasis on social change, Mezirow and these scholars refined the theory over time and began to use terms such as transformation theory, transformational learning, and transformative learning to describe this concept.
Transformative learning typically begins with a disorienting dilemma that makes it necessary for a person to examine existing assumptions and frames of reference online degree. Examples of a disorienting dilemma include job loss, diagnosis of an illness such as cancer or diabetes, loss of a spouse or partner through death or divorce, or some sort of spiritual awakening. The dilemma, by its nature, redefines this aspect of one’s life in a way that cuts across one’s roles, responsibilities, and identity. Transformative learning involves a process of challenging assumptions in a way that helps one redefine oneself. An example of this would be an adult who returns to higher education and finds oneself immersed in study in a way that the person becomes socialized in an academic or professional field, and this new identity emerges as a vital part of who the person becomes.
In recent years, the literature on transformative learning has snowballed as various scholars have expanded on Mezirow’s original ideas. John Dirkx, for example, has online degree and he distinguished among four types of transformational learning. He describes Mezirow’s view as a “cognitive-rational” perspective, which shares con-structivist theoretical underpinnings with Freire’s “emancipatory” approach but differs from Freire by emphasizing the process of reflection and rational thought. A third approach is the “developmental” perspective of Larry Daloz, which is holistic and contextually based and emphasizes how individuals negotiate developmental transitions in their lives. Finally, Dirkx describes a “spiritual-integrative” approach that extends beyond the rational approach to focus on feelings and images emerging from e-learning and online education. The point here is that Mezirow’s work is seminal to understanding transformative learning, and subsequent work by various individuals, including work published in such sources as Adult Education Quarterly and the more recent Journal of Transformative Learning online degree, demonstrates that this topic has assumed a central place in current scholarship on adult learning.
Humanism and Behaviorism
As with the field of educational psychology in general, humanism and behaviorism have held an important place in the conceptual foundations of adult learning. Humanism, with its view of human nature as basically good and the belief that individuals have virtually unlimited potential for growth, is particularly attractive to those seeking to bring out the best that adult learners can achieve online degree. In humanistic adult education, Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow are among the seminal thinkers. The humanist perspective underlies many of the tenets of andragogy and self-directed learning and is most often reflected in adult learning activities directed toward personal growth or improvement.
Behaviorism has also had a strong influence in the area of adult learning. With emphasis on reinforcement, learning for mastery, and helping people achieve competency in what is being learned, behaviorism has been especially influential in settings where performance and measurable outcomes are of primary importance. The influence of behaviorism is perhaps strongest in adult learning situations such as training in business and industry and adult literacy settings, where achieving measurable outcomes is deemed central to the success of learning. It can also be found where learning is designed to help people change specific behaviors, such as weight loss, smoking cessation, and substance abuse learning efforts.
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E-learning knowledge is socially constructed outside of the individual learner, these approaches are especially compatible with learning for social change. However, those who approach online education from critical and postmodern orientations tend to reject or minimize the importance of theories and research derived from a psychological orientation. For those interested in online degree and the psychology of adult learning, critical and postmodern theories pose a challenge in terms of the degree to which emphasis should be placed on individual and social dimensions of learning.
Ralph G. Brockett
EDITOR Neil J. Salkind
Copyright © 2008 by SAGE Publications, Inc.