Adult education pioneer Malcolm S. Knowles [1] suggested that education is an agent’s activity to change individuals and groups. In contrast, learning is the process by which organisms change. Education focuses on the interests and methods of the educator. In contrast, learning focuses on the individual and groups in which change occurs. Understanding the distinction between learning and education can help provide a basis for understanding the strategies and methods of education institutions. Sifting through disparate perspectives clarifies the confusion about the definition, nature, and purpose of learning.

Starting with the similarities, theorists and interpreters share a common view that learning happens inside the head and involves some sort of change. The unity seems to stop here. Emerging neuroscience may help to provide an actual picture of the functions and processes of learning. But, disparate philosophical perspectives can make defining learning an “elusive phenomenon” in a “morass” of competing ideas [1, p. 16].