Positively Aging — Phase I and II Application
Project Website(s)
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Abstract
Phase II (2000-2003) – This Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) application is a Phase II proposal to disseminate the Positively Aging TM project. Positively Aging TM is an educational partnership developed between the Aging Research and Education Center (AREC) at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) and the Northside Independent School District (NISD) in San Antonio TX. We evaluated the Positively Aging TM teaching materials during a Phase I SEPA grant (1997-2000-R25- RR12369). We now plan to disseminate Positively Aging TM by consolidating our partnership with NISD and establishing a new partnership with North East Independent School District (NEISD). For the past six 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 TM 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. In this dissemination proposal we designed two specific aims to achieve these long term goals. First to develop an interactive web site that facilitates and supports distance learning to (a) improve student knowledge and skills specific to math and science curricular elements and (b) improve professional development for teachers in knowledge specific to gerontology and the aging process. Second to directly test the effectiveness of two sustained 3-year dissemination strategies. A controlled study will compare a program of teacher training followed by web based electronic support alone compared to teacher training with web based support plus in-school personal support by Positively Aging TM staff. We will test the hypothesis that in-school personal support will facilitate dissemination beyond what can be achieved solely by computer based distance learning techniques. Phase I (1997-2000)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].
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Additional Information
This project will disseminate the Positively Aging® program developed in Phase I: an innovative program with potential to enhance both science and math skills of middle school students and to provide content learning in gerontology that is well-developed designed for integration into the curriculum and meets state education standards. Positively Aging® is an educational partnership developed among the Aging Research and Education Center the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and San Antonio-s Northside Independent School District. An interactive Web site will be developed to facilitate and support distance learning to improve students- knowledge and skills specific to math and science curricular elements and to facilitate professional development for teachers in the areas of gerontology and the aging process.
