An Empirical Assessment of an Activity to Teach Sensory Change in Aging

Participants

Traditional-aged students (n = 50, 42 women) in two sections of a life-span development course at a private liberal arts college participated. The same professor taught both sections, which had identical syllabi, readings, exams, and in-class multimodal learning assignments, other than the target activity. On the due date for the textbook reading assignment on late adulthood for both groups (Santrock, 2011), one section, the experimental group (n = 26, 24 women), engaged in the target 20-min aging simulation with 30-min discussion. The second section, the control group (n = 24, 18 women), listened to a 50-min lecture on physical changes in aging (e.g., neuropathy, sensory impairment, and loss of fatty tissue) and common misconceptions of aging (e.g., senility, loneliness, and stubbornness).

The Simulation Activity With Discussion

Students worked in triads, such that one person played the role of an “elderly person,” one a “nagging adolescent,” and the third a “safety guide.” The professor randomly assigned students to their roles. First, the student in the role of the “elderly person” donned a set of props, in the following order: (1) thick latex dish-washing gloves to reduce dexterity to simulate neuropathy and arthritis; (2) foam earplugs to simulate hearing impairment; (3) reading glasses of 2.75 strength to simulate cataracts and eye fatigue from presbyopia; (4) nose plugs to simulate the reduction in olfactory senses and the impact such loss has on taste; (5) 15 small beads in each shoe to simulate the discomfort related to the loss of fatty tissue.

The professor instructed the “nagging adolescent” to act as an impatient teenager might, pestering the “elderly person” to complete each task as quickly as possible. The purpose of this was to simulate the harassment and self-consciousness that elderly persons may experience on occasions when their slower pace impedes other people. In addition, the “nagging adolescent” served to ensure that the “elderly person” completed all of the tasks during the limited time frame. Finally, the purpose of the “safety guide” was to protect students from injury (e.g., intervene if the “elderly person” began to trip).

With the “nagging adolescents” and “safety guides” alongside, the “elderly persons” completed a series of tasks. First, after donning the gloves, glasses, earplugs, and nose plugs, the “elderly persons” put on a long-sleeved button-down shirts requiring fastening eight tiny buttons, then picked up 30 tiny beads one at a time to place in their shoes, and, finally, tied their shoelaces. The professor then gave each “elderly person” instructions in small print to walk to a specific location on campus (with “nagging adolescent” and “safety person” in tow) where the “elderly person” had to locate and read a second set of small print instructions. These instructions sent them to another location where they read and memorized an address before returning to the classroom by a specified time, where the “elderly persons” wrote the address on the whiteboard. In addition to requiring the “elderly persons” to read tiny print with obscured vision, each of these walks gave the “elderly persons” 20 min to experience the discomfort and instability of walking at a fast pace, up and down two flights of stairs and on grass-cracked cement, with beads in their shoes, and with obscured vision and hearing. Moreover, fastening buttons, picking up tiny beads, and writing on the white board while wearing thick gloves gave the elderly person opportunities to experience a reduction in dexterity. Finally, after students returned to the classroom, each of the “elderly persons” tasted lemon drops, raisins, cinnamon, and saltine crackers to experience specific taste genres (e.g., salty, sour, and bland) with muted senses of smell and hearing.

Immediately after the simulation, the professor led students in discussion. In addition to posing questions similar to those Wood (2002) suggested regarding emotions students experienced during the simulation, for this study the professor asked several precise questions to guide the students in making connections between their simulation experience and the particular diseases and disabilities they had studied in the reading assignment due that day (Santrock, 2011). Specifically, the professor asked students to identify which physical conditions (e.g., neuropathy, cataracts, and fatty tissue loss) each prop simulated. The professor also asked the groups of students who played each role to compare their experiences (i.e., to compare the experiences of being the “elderly person” to that of being the “nagging adolescent” or “safety guide”). Finally, the professor prompted students to discuss the illnesses and disabilities that may contribute to these specific sensory declines. The entire discussion lasted 30 min, such that students completed both the simulation and the discussion within one 50-min class period.

The Control Group Lecture

Students in the control group listened to a 50-min lecture covering the same sensory declines and contributing factors that students in the experimental group encountered in the simulation activity with discussion. The difference between the control and experimental groups was the mode of delivery for the information. The experimental group first experienced the physical impairments and then through discussion made connections between their simulation activities and the factual information they had read in their textbook. In contrast, the control group passively listened to a lecture elaborating on the identical textbook information they had read.

The Assessment

To assess learning outcomes, we collected pretest–posttest data on students’ knowledge of physical aspects of aging. We developed a 22-item multiple choice quiz on late adulthood sensory change (see Appendix A) and adapted Palmore’s (1977) Facts on Aging Questionnaire to create a separate 23-item true/false quiz on common beliefs about aging (e.g., boredom, safety, and poverty; see Appendix B). Both groups completed these measures as an unannounced pretest during the third week of the semester. Students completed the aging simulation with discussion (experimental) or lecture (control) the tenth week of the semester, and the same quiz and questionnaire as unannounced posttests one week later.