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Evaluate

About the Activity:

In this Evaluate activity, students will extend what they have learned in The Biology of Aging into a community action project or research paper.

Objectives:

  • Volunteer in an extracurricular activity that involves working with senior citizens.
  • Develop a research project that investigates extended longevity and its effect on society.

Image from Paul Menton Centre for Students with Disabilities

Procedure:
  1. To complete this unit, students are encouraged to do one of one of the following community action projects:
    1. Volunteer in a local nursing home or the geriatric unit of a local hospital. Students can pass reading materials, play cards, and help in many other activities.
    2. Contact your local United Way or other volunteer organization and inquire about reading to the elderly, delivering "Meals on Wheels," or do yard or house work for an elderly neighbor.
    3. Contact animal groups that train animals to visit nursing homes and hospitals.
    4. Organize a senior citizen prom for your high school. Invite members of a senior citizen community to join your high school organization for dinner and a dance. Businesses in the community may be willing to donate money or services. Have games and music that allows seniors and teens to talk and interact.
    5. Write an article for the school newspaper enlightening other students on the benefits of the elderly in our society. Interview seniors. Investigate how seniors and teens feel about current issues. How do life experiences influence our ideas and opinions.
    6. See Enrichment Credit Optional Project. (Enrichment credit is the original model for The Biology of Aging project. Students receive quarterly credit for outside Biology activities, which include volunteer activities. Courtesy of Ann Sowd, Hoover High School)

  2. As an alternative to a community action project, students can write a research paper on:
    1. The pros and cons of longer life / longevity vs. quality of life
    2. If there was a "longevity pill," would you take it? Explain the benefits and detriments to the development of such a pill.
    3. The implications of longevity on society, economics, health care, and politics in the future.
    4. Further investigate your team's theory of aging.


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