Outlines a recent educational initiative in social gerontology at the Western Australian College of Advanced Education: a two-year course on aging and the community. Discussed its educational and national context, the development of the course and its present content. Analyzes the student population to establish typical profiles of those…

Used simulation to increase students' empathy toward changes that occur as a concomitant of human aging, in a quasi-experiment of an undergraduate "Introduction to Gerontology" course. Discusses the self-selection method by which student experiments are designed; simulations done; and some of the results. (Author/KS)

A communication and aging course could potentially enhance both gerontological care providers' understanding of older persons' communication needs, and the older students' communication proficiency. Regardless of the theory of social adaption to aging that the course embraces--disengagement, activity-personality, social exchange, or fundamental…