Seniors and Teens work together to achieve learning
Is there transfer here? Seniors & Teens Use Skills together
Here we are talking about programs that work with seniors and teens in learning new skills. Across the board programs have been around in bringing the generation gap between our senior communities and our younger generations. We have had several programs that have crossed over from youth visiting seniors; seniors teaching school children to read; teens helping in hospitals or senior homes; seniors working in businesses that bring stability to an industry; and of course both generations benefit from each other.
A program was developed and interacted by the 4-H Technology where there were teams in six states that were training senior citizens to navigate and obtain information from the Medicare Web site. The teens perceived an improvement in working with seniors, project management, teaching, public speaking, and leadership. The workshops had a positive effect on seniors' comfort and skill levels towards technology. This intergenerational experience in leadership and technology training provided learning and skill development for both groups and led to positive changes in attitudes towards the other generation. (Journal of Extension, 2002).
A summary of the interaction of the teens and seniors in the program is as follows:
Participating in the TTIS pilot project as either a teen trainer or a senior learner resulted in a positive learning experience. Results from the post-test of the project indicate that the teens perceive an improvement in all skill areas, specifically working with seniors, project management, teaching, public speaking, leadership, and knowledge and understanding of the Medicare Web site.
Further, this intergenerational experience led to a positive change in attitude of the teens toward working with seniors and teaching them skills in technology. This change in attitude included an increased comfort level and belief that seniors are willing, able, and open to learning new technology.
Results of the intake form completed by senior citizens before the workshop indicate that although some were comfortable or skilled at using computers and the Internet, many participants did not feel comfortable or skilled. The workshop evaluation indicates that attending had a positive impact on the learners' perception of their comfort and skill level. The majority of respondents indicated that they were more comfortable and felt their skills had improved in using technology after the workshop. Although a few people continued to doubt their comfort and skill after the workshop, this may be due to the fact that learners with little to no experience in using technology attend TTIS workshops.
In looking over the program, as there are similar ones like this, we want to see if there may be transfer for the future for both seniors and teens in learning either a) technology, b) working with another generation for future projects, c) would one consider this an "encompassing transition" platform?, d) how does impact learning for the future?
We reviewed and compared the different primary "consequential transitions" of transfer; lateral, collateral, encompassing and mediational. The third transition seems to fit best this teen-senior interaction. As discuss in King Beach's article on Consequential Transitions: A Sociocultural Expedition Beyond Transfer in Education (1989), suggests that "encompassing transitions occur within the boundaries of a social activity and is itself changing (Beach, 1989). He states that these transitions can result in generational reversals in expertise and instructional roles - as in the perfect analogy of learning the computer.
Learning is inherently a social phenomena (Anderson, Reder & Simon 1996). They remind us that learning here is a social event. As Lave and Wenger (1991) argue:
In our view, learning is not merely situated in practice - as if it were some independently reifiable process that just happened to be located somewhere; learning is an integral part of generative social practice in the lived-in-world. (page 35)
The development of this program has some excellent merits, which seemed to hold true in its execution. I do not particularly have any criticism nor do I see any particular bias of the program. It did prove that the teens felt the change and education of the seniors would be good for them as well as beneficial for themselves in working with another generation. the seniors were benefited not only because they learned about computer skills, but they changed attitudes of working with teens. Therefore it was a win-win situation. Now, where did or how much transfer occurred? It shows that working in sociosituations are helpful for two generations. It also proves that working with others can be beneficial on many levels of learning to do things in the future. The point though that was not discussed, was how both of these groups learned something for the future. Although, both groups got along, what kind of benefits for the future did this exercise have on them.
Overall, "this intergenerational experience fostered a positive attitude among the seniors with regard to their comfort in working with teens and the teens' respect for, ability to teach, and patience with senior citizens." (Journal of Extension, June 2002)
So, go out there and volunteer! Help a senior!
Gail
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