December 15, 2025 – As societies around the world grow older, the demand for effective lifelong learning is increasing. In a new paper published in Educational Gerontology, Prof. Anat Zohar of the Seymour Fox School of Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Dr. Yochai Z. Shavit of the Stanford Center on Longevity offer a new way of thinking about education for older adults. 

Their article shows that the same principles that help children and young adults learn deeply–active learning, connecting new ideas to things we already know, meaningful tasks, and learning with and from others–are just as important, if not more so, for older learners. 

Although programs for older adults have become more common, many rely heavily on passive learning rather than on research-based methods. An enormous industry, worth many millions of dollars per year, consists of courses for older adults based primarily on lectures, despite growing evidence that this approach is not suited to their needs.

“We’re teaching older adults the wrong way,” says Prof. Anat Zohar. “The dominant model is still the lecture, but it is built on assumptions that simply don’t hold for older learners. First, it relies heavily on memorization, even though memory is the very ability that tends to decline with age. Second, it doesn’t connect new ideas to the rich knowledge and life experience older adults already have—one of their greatest learning resources. And third, lectures rarely create the meaningful, relevant learning and relationships that drive motivation in later life. Despite the large industry built around them, lectures just don’t work pedagogically. Older adults enjoy attending them, but they don’t retain enough. High-quality, active learning can support cognitive abilities, promote health, and even contribute to longer lives.” 

This “lecture industry” is part of a much larger market. In the United States alone, the broader continuing education sector, which includes post-school courses, adult programs, vocational training, and professional development, was estimated at about USD 66.9 billion in 2024 and is expected to grow to around USD 96 billion by 2030. Yet, a significant portion of this money is still invested in traditional lecture formats that are not aligned with how older adults learn most effectively. 

The researchers argue that older adulthood is a rich and meaningful stage of life, and education can help people stay mentally sharp, emotionally fulfilled, and socially connected. 

Dr. Shavit notes: “Older adulthood is a time of real psychological depth. When education taps into older adults’ motivations, like the search for meaning, connection, and self-understanding, it becomes not just effective but deeply rewarding.” 

By connecting what we know about how people learn at any age with the specific needs of older adults, Zohar and Shavit offer a practical framework for creating learning environments that work for everyone. 

Their main message is simple: older adults deserve to be taught in a way that will fulfil their learning needs. They are not a separate group with completely different learning rules. They are part of the continuous story of human learning, and education should treat them that way. 

This article is based on a previous article: Zohar, A. (2023). Cognitive growth rather than decline: examining highly educated, third age women’s learning, published in the International Journal of Lifelong Education, 42(4), 342-360.

The research paper titled “Bridging geragogy and pedagogy: Towards a learning-sciences-based approach to older adults’ education” is now available in Educational Gerontology and can be accessed here.

Researchers:

Anat Zohar¹, Yochai Z. Shavit²

Institutions:

1. Seymour Fox School of Education, Emeritus Besen Family Chair for Integrated Studies in Education, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
2. Stanford Center on Longevity, Stanford University, Littlefield Center, Stanford, CA, USA