This Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) application is a Phase l proposal to further develop and evaluate the 'Positively Aging' project. 'Positively Aging' is an educational partnership that has developed between the Aging Research Education Center (AREC) at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSC-SA) and the Northside Independent School District (NISD) in San Antonio, TX. For the past four years the working scientists of the AREC have worked with middle school educators from NISD to produce instructional materials that meet the SEPA goals of (a) improving the quality of math and science education in public schools and (b) promote an understanding of behaviors that increase the risk of disease. To date, the work has centered on middle schools that have large student populations of Mexican Americans - in the past these students have performed less well on standardized achievement tests compared to their European American classmates. The three long term goals of 'Positively Aging' are: (a) to provide effective teaching materials that center on math and science curricular elements and are based on examples from the Gerontologic Sciences; (b) to help students learn to make critical, life determining decisions for extending and enhancing their own lives; and (c) to help students develop a sensitivity to the needs and concerns of the aging population. These long term goals will be reached by achieving the following three specific aims. First, to develop a cohesive set of evaluation instruments to assess the effectiveness of 'Positively Aging' [Year l]. These instruments will directly measure-he ability to improve knowledge and skills specific to math and science curricular objectives, and knowledge specific to Gerontology and the aging process. Tools will also be developed to measure changes in attitudes and beliefs regarding aging in humans. Second, to directly test the overall effectiveness of 'Positively Aging' to improve math and science skills in a controlled trial of project implementation in middle schools from NISD [Year 2]. Third, to use the results of the evaluation studies and controlled trial to revise the teaching material and plan a dissemination proposal [Year 3].
| Lichtenstein, Michael J; Pruski, Linda A; Marshall, Carolyn E et al. (2005) Do middle school students really have fixed images of elders? J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 60:S37-47 |
| Lichtenstein, Michael J; Pruski, Linda A; Marshall, Carolyn E et al. (2003) Sentence completion to assess children's views about aging. Gerontologist 43:839-48 |
| Lichtenstein, M J; Pruski, L A; Marshall, C E et al. (2001) The Positively Aging teaching materials improve middle school students' images of older people. Gerontologist 41:322-32 |
