Life expectancy at birth is the highest of all times and tends to increase. This leads to an older society and brings out various needs that are not taken into consideration before, one of which is the education of older adults. People usually get the idea that older adults cannot learn or do not feel the need to learn. However, learning is an…

In accelerating fast changing knowledge-based and information societies such like the European Union technology dominates most facets of our everyday lives, and learning activities as well. Unfortunately, particularly seniors and elderly people suffer the risk to be left behind, and that the digital divide becomes bigger. This is problematic…

A limited amount of literature has discussed older adults in formal education, especially their motivations to learn in higher education. This study aims to understand older adults' learning in the context of higher education. Specifically, this study argues that higher education can function as a stimulating learning environment that helps older…

Presents a 16-item quiz dealing with empirical and theoretical issues in the area of mental health and aging. Each item is documented with supporting literature. In addition, average scores, item difficulties, and item-to-total correlations are presented for two groups of undergraduate students. (JAC)

This paper provides an easy to use methodology describing the composition and setting of interdisciplinary activities within a gerontological education center. For 147 activities, using questionnaires completed by 75 participants, investigators determined the number of people, number of disciplines, number of people per discipline, and the…

Practical reasons to consider standards for gerontology are presented in this perspective on developing gerontological curriculum. The creation of a statewide task force in Virginia to provide guidelines for the organization and evaluation of gerontology programs in higher education is described. Assumptions which underscored task force activities…

Given the aging of the population, the need for an increased number of persons trained and educated in gerontology is evident. To date, gerontology curricula have been based upon institutional requirements and interests, such as the guidelines provided by the Foundations Project (1980). To expand these guidelines, the needs and interests of the…

Four groups of well-functioning senior citizens (6 males and 18 females per group) over the age of 65 were presented with a series of discrimination-learning problems. All were provided four pretraining problems, appropriate to their individual condition, and encouraging self-pacing. Two levels of problem complexity (four-dimensional vs.…

The aged are generally identified by such criteria as chronological age, economic condition, physical appearance, psychological behavior, mental conditions, and social roles. While the present population of aged is characterized by lower educational and economic levels, it is anticipated that as the number of aged grows, the educational and…

Programs for the elderly are rapidly becoming part of adult education programs. Such programs often use the methods and assumptions associated with androgogy (an approach to adult education advocating that instruction of adults should encourage self-directed learning) and use learning objectives related to life experiences and problems. Although…

A survey of 72 pharmacy schools shows 22 percent of the schools had no geriatric coursework, 35 percent offered only courses in which the geriatric content averaged under 12 percent of course content, and 43 percent offered courses that focused primarily on geriatrics, most including a major clinical component. (Author/MSE)

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…

Senior citizens between the ages 60-72 most want to attend a community college according to a series of interviews among 100 members 60 years and older, of Seattle, Washington-based senior centers. A semantic differential technique evaluated the concepts of community college, classroom and senior center. Members evaluated the concept "community…

This course description lists a sequence of units focusing on how aging affects an individual's ability to communicate. Besides general information about the course organization, specific information is provided on four short papers, in which students defend their views on critical issues of communication and aging, and on seven units of study.…

In spite of statistics that show that demographically there are increasingly more women than men as people age, and that epidemiologically women are more likely than men to utilize health services, most health services continue to be based on research and training that is both age and gender biased. Few mental health professionals are…