Few people are willing to admit that senior adults and young children share many common characteristics, including: (1) changes in development; (2) need for companionship; and (3) the desire to be understood. These two groups are connected mostly through direct interaction with middle-aged adults. One very practical way to build a greater sense of…

A project to promote collaboration between child and adult literacy educators in a family English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) literacy program is described. It arose from conflicting opinions and concerns voiced by teachers familiar with different student groups and with different instructional frames of reference. Quarterly teacher preplanning…

The public library is a natural arena for intergenerational programs that can change "agist" attitudes by bringing older adults and youth together. This study determined the degree to which public libraries in western Pennsylvania perceive a need for programming for intergenerational programming, to what extent programs have been…

This paper examines the definition and practice of intergenerational learning programs, and attempts to determine the characteristics of successful and meaningful programs of this type. The first section defines intergenerational learning and states its purpose: to bring young and old together for the purpose of learning from one another, under…