A pedagogical strategy addressing an unmet need: Making the biology of aging an accessible part of interdisciplinary gerontology education

ABSTRACT

In an age of specialization, obstacles to interdisciplinary training and integrated intellectual growth are expected. One such obstacle to graduate-level training in gerontology is the challenge of making the biology of aging accessible to nonbiologists. In this article, the authors’ aim is to share 15 years of experience developing a pedagogical strategy that situates the biology of aging as an accessible part of interdisciplinary gerontology education for nonbiologists and biologists alike. The approach hinges on a four-pronged learning opportunity—four course offerings—that places high priority on exactitude with language and sees development of an attitude of precision with language as essential to intellectual growth. By inspiring students to master language in the key of B—Biology of Aging—we unleash a versatile method for developing cross-disciplinary discoverers prepared for a lifetime of seeing and reporting.

KEYWORDS:

• biogerontology
• language
• interdisciplinary training
• graduate education

Acknowledgments

Development and implementation of this pedagogical approach was made possible through a Brookdale National Fellowship for Leadership in Gerontology and Geriatrics awarded to D.J. Waters. The authors thank E. Chiang for critical review of the article and preparation of figures. Portions of this article were presented as a lecture delivered at the 2017 Association for Gerontology Higher Education (AGHE) Conference in Miami, Florida. The authors wish to acknowledge their indebtedness to the students who as scholars-in-training courageously engaged in these cross-discipline learning opportunities and who as scholars-at-work continue to champion the advance of interdisciplinary learning.

Notes

1. With these features, the Biology of Aging course achieves a pedagogical structure that parallels many of the aspects of educational philosophy put forward by George Herbert Mead in his 1910 to 1911 lectures delivered at the University of Chicago titled “A Philosophy of Education” (Mead, 2008).

2. Wider equilibrium is a term used by I. A. Richards to refer to the payoff for cross-disciplinary ventures in his book Poetries and Sciences (1970), one of the acts of writing to which students are exposed in the course More Effective and Opportunistic Writing.