Adults do not learn as children learn. They have prior experience, they have real-world problems to solve and, crucially, they can get up and walk out if they lose interest!

In this week’s episode of The Mind Tools L&D Podcast, Ross G and ‘Ross Dickie’ are joined by Dr Carrie Graham. In amongst talk of bridge building, we discuss:

• the core principles of Adult Learning Theory
• how to apply Adult Learning Theory in the workplace
• why keeping the life of the learner front-of-mind is so important.

In ‘What I Learned This Week’, Ross Dickie got smutty by diving into the acronym shift from SMET to STEM. See more here: McComas, W. F. (2014). STEM: Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The Language of Science Education: An Expanded Glossary of Key Terms and Concepts in Science Teaching and Learning, 102-103. Online at: link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-94-6209-497-0_92

And Ross G got snarky, with a deep dive into the groundbreaking conspiracy theory that surrounds public information game Cat Park. You can play the game at: catpark.game/

Ross read about Cat Park in The Economist. See: economist.com/culture/2023/04/05/games-are-a-weapon-in-the-war-on-disinformation

If you’re interested in the conspiracy, you’ll need to do your own research. We don’t recommend.

To find out more about Carrie, and to book a CALM consultation, visit: drcarriegraham.com/  

For more from us, including access to our back catalogue of podcasts, visit mindtoolsbusiness.com. There, you'll also find details of our award-winning performance support toolkit, our off-the-shelf e-learning, and our custom work.  

Connect with our speakers   

If you'd like to share your thoughts on this episode, connect with our speakers on Twitter:

• Ross Garner - @RossGarnerMT
• Ross Dickie - @Ross DickieMT
• Dr Carrie Graham - LinkedIn