The development and evaluation of a secondary school unit on aging in America

The major emphasis was the development and evaluation of a secondary school unit on aging that focused on prevalent age stereotypes. The systematic development of materials was followed by field testing of the instructional unit.

Two levels of field testing provided suggestions for improving the unit. Evaluation of the revised unit by teachers, students and various experts indicated very favorable reactions to the materials. The unit on aging was generally perceived as interesting, worthwhile, and appropriate for future classroom use.

A pre-, posttest, delayed post test experimental design assessed the unit's effectiveness in promoting more accurate beliefs about older people and increasingly positive attitudes toward the elderly. Posttest and delayed posttest findings on the knowledge instrument revealed that students receiving instruction scored significantly higher on this measure than students not receiving instruction.

Scores on the attitude assessment instruments indicated that all students tended to evaluate older people in a positive direction regardless of aging instruction. The treatment significantly affected students' negative feelings abcut the aged, but this significant finding was not encountered on the delayed posttest scores of the same instrument. An examination of the influence of pretesting suggested that this attitudinal shift was an artifact 0f the design.