INCIDENTAL LEARNING IN THE INTENTIONAL AND STRUCTURED LEARNING EXPERIENCES OF ADULT STUDENTS.

Abstract

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216 p.

Students from three Chicago area colleges completing a beginning accounting course were asked if they learned intentionally, incidentally, or already knew fifty attitudes, skills, or items of information. Items were grouped in the following categories: General Objectives, Necessary Skills, Applications in Everyday Life, Interests beyond Accounting, Attitudes toward Accounting, General Skills. Students learned Objectives intentionally; knew many Necessary and General Skills already (acquired incidentally those not known); arrived at Applications and Attitudes incidentally. Interests beyond Accounting varied on the intended/incidental/already knew triad due to social and experiential factors.Chi-square testing (p <. 05) analyzed relationships between incidental learning and previous experience or training, age, sex, reason for taking course, grade, instructor/peer encouragement. Each variable was analyzed by the others as secondary variables.Analysis by secondary variables showed relationship between not having taken a previous course and incidental learning when analyzed by work experience, sex, instructor encouragement, and for those who did take a course when analyzed by age, reason, grade, peer encouragement. Analysis of subparts showed relationship between working and incidental learning when analyzed by age, and between not working and incidental learning and age, sex, reason, grade. Relationship between age and incidental learning was confirmed for those 17-22 and sex, reason, grade; for those 23-55 and age, sex, reason, grade instructor/peer encouragement. Sex and incidental learning were related for females when analyzed by age; for males when analyzed by age, reason, grade. Reasons for taking the course (Required, Curious, Purposeful) and incidental learning were related for Required and age, sex, grade, peer encouragement; for Curious and sex; for Purposeful and age. Relationship existed between grade and incidental learning for A and B students analyzed by age; for C students when analyzed by peer encouragement. Instructor encouragement and incidental learning were related for those receiving instructor encouragement and age, sex, reason, peer encouragement; for those not receiving encouragement and age. Peer encouragement was related to incidental learning when analyzed by age and grade.Incidental learning represented part of learning for all variables and respondents--adaptive behavior when expectations exceed knowledge.