Discusses a method of teaching human development through the use of writing journals and reading the novels of May Sarton. Uses excerpts from students' journals to highlight the process by which human service workers begin to overcome the distance between their worlds and the worlds of the elderly with whom they will work. (Author)

Educators must create learning opportunities to stimulate older adults and allow them to develop. These educators must also operationalize self-fulfillment in adult education. Research and theory indicate that cognition is an adaptive process and elders who practice learning activities will maintain their abilities. Further, research and theory of…

Written for both professionals and lay persons working with the development and education of older adults, this book addresses issues of aging, expectations for aged persons, and the means to respond in practical and educationally sound ways to the changing needs of older adults. The book is organized in four parts. Part I introduces the world of…

Erik Erikson's model (1963, 1982) is most useful to an understanding of development and aging. He describes lifelong growth as related to tasks that must be performed. At each stage of life, times of stability are followed by developmental crises. Upon resolving the crisis, the individual can enjoy the particular beauty and security of that…

Older learners are often led into adult education by a quest for self-development and the wish to make meaning of the human experience. Adult educators should explore and appreciate the process of human development in the last stage. In old age there can be a merging of the knowledge of the body (life's stories) and of the spirit (developmental…

This review examines and synthesizes literature about persons over 60--the Third Age--particularly as they engage in learning. It spans the literature of psychology, sociology, gerontology, education, and other fields, connecting them through four constructs: the inner life, cognitive changes of aging, psychosocial development, and socioeconomic…