The Present of Things Future: Reflections on Teaching About Aging to Students in Their Twenties

Abstract

Organized around three course objectives are six activities/assignments the author has found useful in promoting affective learning outcomes in introductory courses on aging. The intent in developing these approaches was to address particular postures toward aging and the aged often displayed by students in their late teens and early twenties. In addition to describing these activities and assignments, the author reflects on student feedback in terms of the promise these activities and assignments hold for enabling students to more clearly discern their personal futures as older adults, and for motivating them to make changes in their present lives that will ensure successful aging in the future. Compared to the experience of teaching human development courses where the content centers on the first two decades of life, faculty who teach introductory undergraduate courses on aging often encounter student postures that require special pedagogical approaches. The term ―postures‖ refers collectively to a host of beliefs and attitudes about aging and the aged. In this paper, I share some of these approaches in the form of class activities and assignments that students have said in retrospect were thought-provoking and impactful. These activities and assignments are organized around three course objectives: Future time perspective and personal futurity, ageism and expectations about aging, and life course variability resulting from socio- historical influences. Admittedly, these are not the only course objectives undergirding an introductory course on aging, but they represent objectives designed to promote affective learning outcomes and address particular postures held by many students who have not yet celebrated their 25th birthday. Course Objective #1: Fostering a Sense of Personal Futurity