Recent studies of adult literacy learners, as well as recent theories of curriculum based upon findings from the fields of cognitive science, cognitive psychology, and artificial intelligence, reinforce and even heighten the importance placed upon providing meaningful context in adult education (Berryman, 1991, Freire, 1970; Knowles, 1984; Lave, 1988; Lave & Wenger, 1991; Newman et al., 1989; Rogoff & Lave, 1984; Sterber & Wagner, 1987; U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment, 1983; Vygotsky, 1978, 1986). Traditional views of curriculum, which seem deeply imbedded in the collective consciousness of educators, suggest that complex skills can be broken down into simple skills, each of which can be mastered independently and out of context. Not until all components are mastered, the argument goes, can more complex thinking skills develop. Moreover, in this model, the teacher is the active partner in the educational process, imparting knowledge to a passive student, as with Freire’s "banking" concept of education (Berryman, 1991; Freire, 1970). This view is now being actively called into question.

In contrast to the traditional view, an approach to curriculum and learning called "constructivism" emerged in the mid-1980s and has excited considerable interest among researchers and educators (newman et al., 1989). While not developed from within the field of adult education, the tenents of constructivism seem to have important adult education applications. A constructivist view of learning suggests the following principles to guide the design of effective learning environments:

1. Learners bring prior knowledge and experience with them to class. Instructors do not "write on a blank slate." Rather, they structure learning situations in which learners can interact with new knowledge that is at an appropriate level of complexity and interest for learners to appropriate for their own use (called the "zone of proximal development"--ZPD--by the influential cognitive psychologist Vygotsky). This is the genesis of the term "constructivism," for it is the learners, not the instructors who construct the new knowledge, fashioning it to meet their own needs and capacities and integrating it into their own unique cognitive structures (sometimes called "schemata") (Berryman, 1989; Lave, 1988; Lave & Wenger, 1991; Newman et al., 1989; OTA, 1983; Vygotsky, 1978, 1986).
   
2. Knowledge is acquired from experience with complex, meaningful problems rather than from practicing subskills and learning isolated bits of knowledge. Human beings want to make sense of things, to put the puzzle together. Decontextualized instruction that presents "pieces" in one unvarying sequence fails to mobilize this powerful property of human beings to integrate input from diverse sources (Berryman, 1989; Lave, 1988; Lave & Wenger, 1991; Newman et al., 1989; OTA, 1983).
   
3. Skills and knowledge are best acquired in context. Previously it was thought that in order to make skills and knowledge more generalizable, most learning should be general and separated form the context of everyday life. Now, however, many researchers argue that context is critical for understanding and thus for learning, for context gives meaning to learning. The task for educators becomes to create multiple meaningful contexts for learning, so that learners can have the experience of applying knowledge in a variety of contexts, and to form their own means of transferring skills form one context to another (Berryman, 1989; Lave, 1988; Lave & Wenger, 1991; Newman et al., 1989; OTA, 1993, Vygotsky, 1978, 1986).
   
4. People do not easily or predictable transfer learning - either from school to "real life," from real life to classrooms, or from one subject to another. Educational experiences should help students transfer skills, concepts, and knowledge they have learned to new situations. This is particularly important for adults, because: (a) they are said to possess a unique, reflective capacity to look at themselves from outside themselves, called "metacognition," and (b) they are said to place particular importance as learners on realistic, rapid application of new knowledge to practical contexts and problems in their real lives (Knowles, 1984); Lave, 1988; Newman, 1989; OTA, 1993).