Page 231 - Nutrition Counseling and Education Skills: A Guide for Professionals

between the situation in which the skill or concept was learned and the situation to which it is applied. The
implication is that one should teach people to handle the range of situations that they are likely to encounter
most frequently at work (employees) or at home (clients). The practitioner needs to give many examples from
the range of problems that the person may encounter in using the knowledge or skills learned.12 When people
actually use their new knowledge and skills to solve problems, transfer of training is confirmed.

For a client on a modified diet, for example, it is not enough to teach which foods to eat and avoid, but also
how to transfer that information into planning menus, adapting current or using new recipes, choosing
appropriate menu items in restaurants, and reading labels while shopping in the supermarket. Using
knowledge or skills to solve problems, such as what to do in a restaurant, helps people apply what they
learned. Can a person with diabetes, for example, convert the restaurant portion of a pasta serving into a
serving from the exchange list or calculate the carbohydrate content? When grocery shopping, can the calories
of a serving size be correctly identified?

Learning does not transfer automatically. For employees, learning is enhanced when teaching takes place in
an actual or simulated environment. Cashiers, for example, need to be trained on the equipment they will be
using in handling all types of transactions. When training does not transfer to the job, possible reasons are
that trainees found the training irrelevant, that they did not retain it, or that the work environment or
supervisor does not support the newly learned behavior.13

Since most people consider that it is “bad” to be wrong and “good” to be right, some people may avoid
answering questions or solving problems for fear of being wrong, with the psychological discomfort this
brings. The implication is that one should handle incorrect answers carefully, with every effort to preserve the
person’s self-image and avoid making the person feel embarrassed. If an answer is partially correct,
concentrate on that part and encourage the person to elaborate more. If totally wrong, you may say, for
example, “Perhaps I did not phrase my question well.” Then you can rephrase it. Maintaining a relaxed
atmosphere and demonstrating a nonjudgmental approach is desirable.

Andragogy

Besides behavioral and cognitive theories of learning, other theories have explored the differences between
adults and children as learners. As a professional, understanding how adults learn will help you teach better.
When you accept responsibility for teaching clients, patients, or employees, it is natural to think back to your
own past experiences of being taught. Most educational experiences were the result of pedagogy, which may
be defined as the art and science of teaching children.13 The teacher was an authority figure, and students were
dependents who complied with assignments and directions.

Adult education has challenged some of the basic ideas and approaches of pedagogy. Malcolm Knowles has
focused attention on beliefs about educating adults and, instead of pedagogy, uses the term “andragogy.” He
maintains that the basic assumptions regarding adult learners differ from those regarding children. He sees
adults as mutual partners in learning. Following are Knowles’ major assumptions about adult learners13:

1. Adults become aware of a need to know. They seek to learn what they consider important, not what others think is important.
2. In adulthood, the self-concept changes from being a dependent learner to being a self-directed one. Adults have autonomy in the learning

situation.
3. Expanding experiences are a growing resource for learning and can be shared with others.

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