This review examines past research on adult undergraduates in American higher education. Due to varied beliefs regarding adult students and past higher educational practice, this study utilizes qualitative content analysis to identify key perceptual assumptions and orientations as well as descriptive groupings. Five inductive thematic categories, domains of reality framed by the researchers, are identified. These include: the Image of Implied Deficiency, Image of Student Entry and Adaptation, Image of Description and Characterization, Image of Psychosocial Development, and Image of Equity and Outcome. A discussion of these key perspectives as well as a critical review of past research in the study of adult undergraduate students is presented.

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Adult Undergraduates in Higher Education: A Review of Past Research Perspectives

Adult learners (age 25 or older) now comprise approximately 40 percent of under-graduate enrollment. However, predictive models of undergraduate academic success are usually based on traditional young undergraduate students, presenting a problematic picture for the adult undergraduate population. Past research indicates that many older adult learners enter higher education from family backgrounds that tend to place them at an academic disadvantage, bring with them deficiencies in academic skills, and are less involved in academic and social aspects of campus life. Therefore, conventional wisdom would suggest that older students should have lower cumulative grade-point averages than younger students. However, past research on academic performance of adult undergraduates does not substantiate this prediction. This study focused on the validity of generalizing a traditional model of academic performance to older adult students. Results from this study indicate that a traditional model of academic performance prediction is inappropriate for use with older adult undergraduates.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/info/40196195

Adult undergraduate students: Evaluating the appropriateness of a traditional model of academic performance

Review of Research on Adults Learning Mathematics

Although there has been significant growth of adult students in higher education, few strategies have been designed to enhancing faculty and staff beliefs and knowledge regarding adult undergraduate students. This article presents CASHE (Characteristics of Adult Students in Higher Education), an instrumentation strategy for self examination of personally held beliefs and knowledge regarding adult learners. Preliminary research on the use of this instrumentation among community college and university personnel is discussed. Findings suggest differing perceptions between these two collegiate settings, as well as between student personnel staff and instructional faculty.

Adult students in higher education: myths and realities

This study explored the effects of personal epistemological beliefs about mathematics and beliefs about the ability to do well in mathematics on achievement in a college-level, developmental mathematics class. The influences of gender, age, and ethnicity on these beliefs as they relate to mathematics achievement were also explored. The Mathematics Belief Scales (MBS) was adapted from the Indiana Mathematics Belief Scales and Self-Description Questionnaire III to measure beliefs about the time it takes to solve mathematics problems, the importance of conceptual understanding in mathematics, the procedural emphasis in mathematics, the usefulness of mathematics, and self-concept about mathematics. MBS was administered to 159 participants enrolled in Intermediate Algebra over two semesters at an urban, state-supported mid-western university and two small private mid-western universities. Responses to the surveys and scores on the final exams for the Intermediate Algebra courses were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the Pearson product-moment correlations, analysis of variance techniques, and hierarchical regression analysis. Results indicated that students generally held nonavailing beliefs about mathematics and mathematics self-concept. Students typically believed that mathematical problems should be solved within ten minutes. Students generally did not believe that math problems can be solved with logic and reason instead of learned math rules. Over 40% of the students did not believe that mathematics beyond basic mathematics was useful to everyday life. Students were also generally not confident in their ability to solve mathematics problems. Additionally, men’s self-concept was significantly higher than women’s selfconcept. Adult learners’ self-concept was also significantly higher than traditional age students’ self-concept. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that the importance of understanding mathematical concepts positively influenced final exam scores for men more so than women and self-concept positively influenced final exam scores for women more so than men. These results indicate a need for academic experiences at the collegelevel that will challenge students’ current belief system and provide an environment that is supportive and conducive to building individual self-confidence. THE EFFECT OF PERSONAL AND EPISTEMOLOGICAL BELIEFS ON PERFORMANCE IN A COLLEGE DEVELOPMENTAL MATHEMATICS CLASS

Carol Mishler

Papers

College Freshmen Mathematics Abilities: Adults versus Younger Students

College Credit for Work Experience: Possibilities for CETA-Funded Employees.