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Education is a vital tool for attainment of sustainable development goals. While several efforts have been put in place to reform curriculum materials in formal education settings, adult and non-formal education is left behind. Most adult and non-formal education programmes adopt the methods and facilities of formal education in many aspects especially implementation of teaching and learning processes. The study, therefore, aimed at investigating the situation of teaching and learning in adult and non-formal education in Tanzania to establish the needs for design of innovative support to andragogy of adult learning; to propose the principles and guidelines for designing andragogy supportive learning materials and to assess the expected practicality of the designed materials in addressing the identified gap. Reeves (2006) design model and Knowles (1984) theory of andragogy guided the design of the innovative materials. The study sample involved adult and non-formal education students, Geography teachers, curriculum experts, adult education experts and photograph experts. Data were collected through focus group discussion, interviews, classroom observation and questionnaires.
The study found that the methodology used in adult and non-formal education settings was unsupportive to adult learners. Teachers lacked andragogical skills and compatible instructional materials. The study proposed design of innovative curriculum materials that involve lesson based photographs containing learning activities that guide adult learners to construct knowledge from observing pictures and generating concepts in groups. Findings from pilot and try-out study showed that the designed innovative materials were practical at classroom settings and andragogy supportive since they contain qualities that promote activity-based, self-directed, problem-solving and knowledge construction learning. Based on these findings, the study concludes that once adult education teachers are provided with well-designed innovative curriculum materials that are compatible with proper methodologies, they can effectively implement the teaching and learning goals in respective levels of education. It is recommended that the proposed innovative design principles and guidelines be used to design the whole package of subject modules in Geography for better learning of adult students.