Torrance Journal for Applied Creativity

nity elders in learning basic horticulture
principles in order to grow and sell
plants to sustain the program. Finally,
the students were taken beyond the
classroom with the elders for lunch at
the local elderly nutrition site. There
students and seniors reflected on the
program and whatever else came up.
The students were getting real world
experiences learning with, and about,
elders.
The community partners in
the Senior to Senior program were the
local elderly nutrition site and a nearby
adult day center. At the nutrition site,
the students were exposed to nutritious
meals and experienced socialization
with the elders. The reflective lunches
increased the average attendance at the
meal site and provided opportunities for
re-connections and reunions between
elders who went to school together at
the local university. The regular nutrition
site participants looked forward to
additional community members and
out-of-town elders coming to the site.
The students served as volunteers at the
nutrition site, thus increasing their volunteer
hours. The elders enjoyed having
the young people around, interacting
with them and getting to tell them
stories.
The Senior to Senior program
resulted in increased attendance and
participation at the nutrition site,
increased student volunteer hours, and
increased revenue with the grant paying
for the participants’ lunches. Students
applied gerontological information to
their experiences by displacing negative
stereotypes with a greater awareness of
abilities and diversity among elders.
Students gained firsthand experience in
lifelong learning skills and the value of
intergenerational contact and engagement.
A unique element to this service
learning program was its entrepreneurial
nature of growing and selling plants. By
growing and selling plants, the participants
not only learned about plant
science, but also about entrepreneurship
and a real-world reason to grow the
plants. By growing the plants, they
were literally contributing to the growth
and development of the program and
reciprocal results.
Multigenerational Mentoring
All people need a purpose. It
seems that too many elders can lose
their sense of purpose and connections
with younger generations. It is also not
uncommon for children to loose connections
with elders. The third program
was designed to unite multiple generations
in creative learning and mentoring
experiences.
When thinking about a program
for elders and children, a focus
on lifelong learning seemed appropriate.
Consequently, the program was
designed to provide lifelong learning
opportunities for elders and gifted and
talented fifth-grade elementary students.
Both groups engaged in creative, educational
learning experiences based on the
Incubation Model of Teaching (TIM).
Elders brought expertise, wisdom, and
need for cognitive stimulation. Students
brought energy, enthusiasm, and
the desire to learn and to be creative. It
was a way for both groups to learn and
benefit each other.
Research shows that when
elders and children come together
for meaningful experiences, everyone
benefits (Generations United, 2002).
Older adults who volunteer are in better
physical and mental health and live
longer than non-volunteering peers
(Zedlewski & Schaner, 2006). Bringing
elders to the classroom is a relatively
untapped and potentially cost-effective
way to positively impact multiple generations
(Frick et al., 2004; Parisi et al.,
2009). So when two program coordinators
collaborated on a program that
would benefit each of their populations,
an award-winning, lifelong learning
program was born.
The purpose of the program
was to instill a sense of appreciation for
diversity of the human experience by
understanding the perspectives of people
born at different times in different
historical periods via shared educational
activities and creative learning experiences.
Emphasis was placed on providing
dynamic learning experiences and
aging awareness by collaborating and
creating together.
The program focused on the
development of one-to-one relationships
of support and encouragement.
They were based on mutual respect and
fostered the exchange of knowledge and
values while engaging in educational
activities. Students were reminded
each session about the elders being
their guests and that they were to focus
completely on their mentor and the
activities.
The educational activities were
not filled with instructions as a strategy
to encourage creative problem solving
among the pairs. The less participants
were told about what was wanted, the
more opportunities they had to explore
their thoughts, ideas, and creativity.
TIM’s simple three-step format was
used to organize learning activities into
meaningful experiences that encouraged
creativity. The focus was shifted from
seeing creativity as a specific ability with
links to certain disciplines (science and
arts) to seeing it as an essential process
of lifelong learning emphasizing the
creation of ideas that may or may not
result in external production (Su, 2009).
Sarah Nadler
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