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Unit 2

Chapter 3: The Social Consequences of Physical Aging

 Gerontologist Assisting Elderly Woman with Cane
  1. Learning Objectives
  2. Things To Do For This Unit
  3. Readings & Assignments
  4. Online Activities

Learning Objectives

After reading this chapter, students should be able to:

  1. Describe the major theories of biological aging.
  2. Describe the research on reversing the effects of biological aging.
  3. Know the effects of aging on body composition and the impact of aging in different organ systems.
  4. Understand the implications of these changes for the older people's functions and their ability to interact with their social and physical environments.
  5. Explain the ways that the environment can be modified to help accommodate the biological changes experienced by most older people.

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Things To Do For This Unit

  1. Start your first Short Essay Assignment and post it to the WebBoard by the end of next week.
  2. Remember you can use the final review as a study guide for the chapters.

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Readings & Assignments

  1. Text: Chapter 3 -- The Social Consequences of Physical Aging
  2. Look over the summaries of the Chapters in the Final Review

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Online Activities

Short Essay - Pros and Cons of Using Technology to Age in Place

The Person-Environment Theory is often used by your text.  Basically it says that one needs to adjust their environment as they age to accommodate changes caused by the aging process or diseases.  We have technology to design "smart houses", which include electronic gadgets that can help disabled people compensate for their limitations.  Trained monkeys and dogs can increase independence among the disabled. Advances in construction materials and practices also serve to enable more independent living for older people.  But technology also has a downside. It can be complex and there are a variety of privacy and autonomy issues. Are assitive technologies a miracle that will allow more elders to keep their independence or does technology create more problems for elders than it solves? Choose a side of the technology agrument and support your views by referencing textbook readings, accessing the Coastline Virtual Library, using other on-line resources, or newspaper and journal articles. Please use at least three different sources, in addition to your textbook, and be thorough in your responses.  
This Short Essay Assignment should be posted by the end of next week. Remember to save the essay to your computer and then copy and paste it to the WebBoard.

Part 1 of the Short Essay Assignment is graded as follows:

Criteria Points
Assignment posted on time. Proper grammar and spelling. Good argument, properly backed with sources, adding own thoughts, opinions and ideas 35-40 points
Good argument, somewhat backed by sources, with no original thoughts added and-or mark down for some inaccurate grammar and spelling, or assignment posted late. 30-34 points
Argument is not clear, resources are not valid, or no original ideas added and-or mark down for poor grammar and spelling or assignment posted late. 25-29 points
Argument not addressed in a complete or accurate way and-or grammar and spelling very poor or assignment posted very late. under 25 points

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E-mail your instructor: Lorie Eber, J.D.
Copyright © 2002 by Debra Secord. All rights reserved.

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