Surmounting the challenge of age diversity [in education]

Summary form only given. How can teachers teach effectively when students' ages range from adolescence to advanced maturity? Upon what level of epistemology should curricula be based? Should one use pedagogy and rogogy, a mixture, or some transitional approach? A model of cognitive complexity provides a theoretical basis for answering these questions. This paper presents a scheme for distinguishing six levels of cognitive complexity that help to assess the current range of capabilities of students so that classroom activities and assignments can be designed to optimize the rate at which students learn the curriculum and move toward intellectual maturity.