Background: Community-based learning is a high-impact, experiential teaching practice where elements of social interaction and authentic participation transform cognitive understanding into meaningful knowing. In the allied health field, the incorporation of community-based learning provides unique access to populations that are not inherently…

Intergenerational service-learning has become an important component of many educational gerontology programs. The model at the University of North Carolina Charlotte incorporates multiple elements of student choice within a very structured service-learning experience. A review of the literature reveals some discussion of the value of choice, but…

Intergenerational service-learning between college students and older adults is a commonly used in educational gerontology. Service-learning is believed to enhance student learning through an equivalent focus on service and learning, reflection, and linking course content with the service experience. This article describes a comentoring project…

This article provides an overview of the activities included in a 3-year, multidisciplinary, intergenerational service-learning project conducted as part of a Foundation for Long-Term Care Service Learning: Linking Three Generations grant. Courses from four departments (gerontology, psychology, occupational therapy, and health promotion and…

A comentoring project paired students in a lifespan developmental psychology course with older adults to conduct a life review. The intergenerational paring was designed to increase students' knowledge of older adults, the aging process, and development across the lifespan. Students developed a paper that included their partner's life history, a…

In August 2006, the Foundation for Long Term Care (Albany, New York) received funding for a variant on service learning in elder care in which Boomers, other older adults, as well as college students would jointly engage in service-learning projects designed to address community needs in five different college towns and cities. This article…

A survey of 230 students in intergenerational service learning courses identified their motivations for involvement. Younger women were interested in relationship-related benefits; older women in altruism and knowledge gains. Males were interested in gaining credits and opportunities to work in areas of potential career interest. (SK)

Service-learning opportunities are prominent on many college campuses. The process of designing and implementing service-learning experiences, especially for students of gerontology, however, has rarely been addressed. The current article briefly reviews the background and utility of service-learning in gerontology courses, describes our…

As intergenerational service-learning becomes an increasingly popular means for providing gerontology and health professional students with "real-life" experience, it is essential to consider the importance of strong community partnerships. Drawing upon a range of intergenerational service-learning experiences from two programs at…

Data from 214 students in adult development and aging classes (117 participated in service learning) indicated that service learning did not seem to affect social values, civic attitudes, or achievement. It did result in improved understanding of course concepts, dispelled myths about aging, and reinforced career choices. (SK)

Fourteen students received training and visited homebound elderly 8 times; 10 students in an aging seminar visited elderly twice. Compared to a control group of 20, visitation groups were significantly more positive toward the elderly and in their views of their own aging. (SK)

Pre/post-project data from 40 students who worked with 25 older workers on skill-building activities indicated that service learning improved their attitudes toward older workers. Preproject, both students and workers felt older workers would not be comfortable with technology. Students discovered that older workers are interested in and capable…

Service-learning is increasingly becoming an avenue used in a variety of disciplines to provide students with real-life experience regarding aging and older adults. Developing and implementing meaningful service-learning experiences, however, requires consideration both of the discipline-specific content to be addressed, as well as the varied…

This article describes a gerontological enrichment model for institutionalizing and sustaining curricular change utilizing Rogers' (1995, 2003) diffusion of innovations approach to organizational change. The goal of the project, funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation, is to transform the social work curriculum at a major state university so…