Ageist attitudes permeate society, are readily transmitted, are perpetuated from generation to generation, and are a prejudice against our future selves. Research has consistently shown that children as young as preschool evidence ageist attitudes, these attitudes become more negative as the child grows older and tend to become self-fulfilling…

Ageist attitudes permeate society, are readily transmitted, and are perpetuated from generation to generation. These attitudes are a prejudice against our future selves. Research has consistently shown that children as young as preschool evidence ageist attitudes, these attitudes become more negative as the child grows older and tend to become…

As the number of older adults increases, it is important to understand how attitudes toward aging influence society, the aging process, and the counseling profession. Ageism--defined as social stigma associated with old age or older people--has deleterious effects on older adults' physical health, psychological well-being, and self-perception. In…

The availability of user-friendly technological tools is allowing instructional designers and subject matter experts to create innovative online instruction. This article describes the implementation of a multimedia case-based approach that employs narrative to create a fully online course on complex continuing and long-term care for older adults.…

This article describes and discusses a novel academic course founded by the Faculty of Welfare and Health Studies at the University of Haifa, Israel, which tried to establish an alternative interaction between graduate students and older persons as part of its graduate academic program. The course "Social Activism and Old Age: From Exclusion…

The amount of older adults is increasing rapidly and the demands of an aging population will need to be met by professionals in many fields, including exercise science. However, many undergraduate students do not want to work with older adults. Therefore, this qualitative study sought to examine the experiences and perceptions of exercise science…

Seeking to extend curricula in a Psychology of Aging course, an online Internet test that assesses user's implicit attitudes was used as part of a learning activity to enhance students' awareness of age-bias in social perceptions. A pretest-posttest methodology examined the efficacy of this learning activity in three separate investigations.…

Describes two exercises that convey the ways in which social biases influence adult development and aging: (1) involves sorting pictures of people by age illustrating the diversity of opinions about how to divide the life span; and (2) demonstrates how physical and social factors shape individual well-being in old age. (DSK)

Notes that, as the composition of the American family has changed, children often have limited experiences with their grandparents or other older adults. Discusses ways to help young children eliminate stereotypical views associated with aging by learning to appreciate the diversity and vitality of older persons and becoming comfortable with the…

This text makes explicit the links between education and gerontology and the academic base for preretirement education. "Concepts of Retirement in Historical Perspective" (Joanna Walker) looks at retirement as the following: event, period, social institution, the Third Age, a life stage, productive aging, and a subject of industrial gerontology.…