Alexander Kapp (1799–1869) was a German educator and editor, brother of

Ernst Kapp Ernst Christian Kapp (15 October 1808 – 30 January 1896) was a German-American philosopher of technology and geographer, and a follower of Carl Ritter. He was prosecuted for sedition in the late 1840s for publishing a small article entitled 'De ...

. In 1833, originally introduced the term ''

andragogy Andragogy refers to methods and principles used in adult education. The word comes from the Greek ἀνδρ- (''andr-''), meaning "man", and ἀγωγός (''agogos''), meaning "leader of". Therefore, andragogy literally means "leading men", wher ...

''. Andragogy consists of

learning Learning is the process of acquiring new understanding, knowledge, behaviors, skills, value (personal and cultural), values, attitudes, and preferences. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals, and some machine learning, machines ...

strategies focused on

adult An adult is a human or other animal that has reached full growth. In human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social and legal concepts. In contrast to a " minor", a legal adult is a person who has attained the age of major ...

s. It is often interpreted as the process of engaging adult learners in the structure of the learning experience. Later, the term ''andragogy'' developed into a theory of adult education by the American educator,

Malcolm Knowles Malcolm Shepherd Knowles (August 24, 1913 – November 27, 1997) was an American adult educator, famous for the adoption of the theory of andragogy—initially a term coined by the German teacher Alexander Kapp. Knowles is credited with being a ...

. Kapp used ''

'' to describe elements of

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

education theory Education sciences or education theory (traditionally often called ''pedagogy'') seek to describe, understand, and prescribe education policy and practice. Education sciences include many topics, such as pedagogy, andragogy, curriculum, learning, ...

. Andragogy (andr- meaning 'man') could be contrasted with pedagogy (paid- meaning 'child' and agogos meaning 'leading') (see Davenport 1993: 114) Although Kapp's use of andragogy had some currency, it was disputed, and its use ground to a halt. In 1921, the term reappeared in a report by Rosenstock in which he argued that 'adult education required special teachers, methods and philosophy, and he used the term andragogy to refer collectively to these special requirements' (Nottingham Andragogy Group 1983: v). Smith, M. K. (1996; 1999
'Andragogy'
the encyclopaedia of informal education. Last update: February 05, 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kapp, Alexander German educational theorists German editors 1799 births 1869 deaths Place of birth missing Place of death missing